Effects of the Steel
by Darien Fawkes
Summary: Far from just being a strong metal to forge powerful weapons, the Ninja Steel has mystical properties that affect those that it comes into contact with, something the Rangers will soon find out.
1. Chapter 1

**Legal:** I do not own Power Rangers or the associated names, places, characters, events etc. Anything not covered by the above rights should be considered purely the creation of the author.

 **Rating:** T – There will be some adult themes, including adult language and violence.

In the Paint Room, Sarah was working on a computer, while Brody was preparing the morning lesson for the Rangers. The team were willing to work hard to develop their skills, knowing that they had a long way to go to catch up to Brody. He had spent the better part of a decade honing his abilities, desperately using every second he had to work towards his escape from the Warrior Dome. Brody had never really considered teaching before, his dad had always been the sensei, but over the past couple of weeks, Brody found he was starting to come into his own.

The most difficult part of teaching as opposed to simply training was in figuring out lesson plans that both challenged the students, but at the same time weren't so challenging they discouraged them. Figuring out the best way to explain how to do something that was both simple enough to understand that his students could understand what he intended them to do, but at the same time wasn't patronising or seeming like he was showing off. Lastly, it was about figuring out what level his students were at so that he could figure out when he could push them a little harder and when he had to slow down a little to let them catch up a bit.

He wasn't doing too badly either. It wasn't as though teaching was in his immediate plans. It wasn't really in his plans at all to take on students, but as soon as he started trying to figure out how to teach the others his abilities, he was just able to see in his mind ideas for exercises and lessons that he could use to be able to help them perfect essential skills. Mick came in, putting down his latest batch of throwing stars and smiled.

"Well, that should keep us going for a while." He declared. "Now we have a good supply for when the Nexus Prism decides to grant us more visions."

"That's great Mick." Brody declared, closing over his book. "The guys' lessons are coming along great, so they should be ready by the time the Prism's ready to increase our arsenal."

Just then, his Ninja Comm bleeped.

"Go ahead." He responded.

"Brody, its Sarah, where are you?" Sarah asked him.

"I'm...in the paint room." He said.

"You didn't forget did you?" She asked. "Brody, Preston's show starts in just a couple of minutes!"

Brody brought his hand to his forehead as he heard this. Preston usually held shows outside, perhaps only getting audiences of about 6-7 people now that his friends would now attend his shows, but today he had managed to convince Principal Hastings to allow him to perform in the main dining hall. His audience still wouldn't be huge, but since the school was part of a federal breakfast programme, there would be a significant increase in his usual audience by virtue of the number of kids there to get a free breakfast.

In the breakfast room, Sarah had arrived early to ensure she and her friends got seats with a good view. Ever since missing his first show thanks to Victor taking her hoverboard on a rather chaotic joy ride, she had made sure she had attended every single one of his shows since then.

She appreciated how hard Preston worked on his shows, and she genuinely felt bad for him any time one of his tricks didn't go quite right or his audience criticised him for either the simplicity of his tricks or the transparent nature of how they were done. She knew a little something about failure; her experiments hadn't always gone smoothly either.

While Sarah had managed to invent her hoverboard, in the process she had created around a hundred ways NOT to create a hoverboard, including but not limited to one that had exploded in her face depriving her of her eyebrows for a few weeks, one that had propelled her at speed into oncoming traffic, breaking her arm and one that had burned down the garden shed in her last house. It was always heartbreaking to see the look of disappointment on his face whenever people would jeer him or taunt him, or even throw things when his show didn't live up to the expectations set for them by the likes of Penn and Teller or David Blaine. She could already tell by the fact that none of the kids were even looking at Preston setting up that it was likely to be another frosty audience.

Hayley and Calvin came in, making their way over to Sarah and taking up seats with her.

"See, I told you we'd get here on time." Hayley told her boyfriend as they arrived. "The show hasn't started yet; you're here in loads of time."

"What happened?" Sarah asked.

"Hayley was late picking me up." Calvin responded as he went through some notes he had scribbled down. It all looked more than a little random, being written on the backs of envelopes, letters, napkins...pretty much it looked like he had written notes on any random pieces of paper he had found lying around. Sarah could admit having done similar things when inspiration came to her for her experiments, but after being unable to figure out what she could and couldn't throw out when she cleaned her room, Sarah's mom had gotten her into the habit of carrying a notebook wherever she went so that she could at least keep them in some kind of order.

"I slept in alright?" Hayley asked him. "I forgot to set my alarm, but we're still here in time."

"Only because your dad called you." Calvin stated. Hayley just smiled. She had told Calvin that her dad had called her to wake her up when her alarm didn't go off, but the fact was...she didn't know who it was. For the last couple of weeks, she had been hearing a strange voice wherever she went, one that she couldn't identify. It just seemed to remind her of things she was forgetting to do or guide her whenever there was something she needed to do, but she couldn't place whose voice it was. While it was worrying, so far the voice hadn't led her to do anything that would lead her or her friends into harms' way, and even with all the bizarre things she and her friends were seeing and experiencing as Rangers, she was reluctant to tell them she was hearing voices. Somehow she doubted that was considered a good sign for them either. "Hey, Sarah, what do you think of these?"

"Calvin, you know electronics is more my thing, I don't know a distributer cap from an oil filter." She told him, looking at his notes. "Besides, Preston..."

"Preston's still setting up." He interrupted Sarah, his enthusiasm getting the better of him. "I was thinking of things we could do to get Brody's truck up and running."

"You mean his dad's truck." Sarah reminded him.

"Well...it's not like his dad is around. It's kind of a waste for it to just sit in the yard doing nothing." Hayley reasoned with her as she picked Kody up, putting him on the table beside her. "You should be able to see from there."

"Maybe Mick can give you a second opinion." Sarah suggested. "He's more into mechanical engineering than I am."

"I don't know what it is, I just started coming up with all these ideas. I just couldn't stop myself!" Calvin said as he looked to the notes.

"Well, maybe you can put that into action a little later?" Hayley said as she put her hand over the notes, flicking her eyes down the hall. "It's not going to be much of a surprise if you have the plans sitting out while Brody's here is it?"

"That's a good point." Calvin replied, stuffing his notes away in his pocket as Brody arrived. He sat with the rest of them.

"Good, it looks like I haven't missed anything." Brody said, sitting down with them. "Guys, I have an amazing lesson plan for you today. I think you're all going to..."

"Yeah, that's great, Brody shh!" Sarah reprimanded him. "Preston's just starting!"

Preston had been waiting for all his friends to arrive. He had never performed in front of a crowd this large whose average age had been in double digits. While he had done some kiddies birthday parties, it was mostly for pre-school kids who were totally oblivious to the 'truth' that magic was all a trick. They still bought into the illusions and hadn't heard all the shows and specials that gave away all of the tricks he had mastered. While performing for the three or four kids that would turn up to his shows in the quad, more out of having nothing better to do than anything else, there were at least thirty kids here today. He wanted to wait until he had at least four that wouldn't be out to savage his performance to be there for moral support. He twirled his top hat onto his head and began to make exaggerated motions to attract the attention of the kids in the hall.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Time for moments of amazement, from master magician, Preston Chango!" He declared at the top of his lungs, drawing their attention. While some of the kids looked up to see what all the noise was about, most of them just kept concentrating on their breakfasts.

"Oh pipe down; I'm just trying to enjoy this...whatever it is." Monty told him. "I only came to get breakfast so that I could save my kidney, anchovies and sauerkraut for lunch."

Calvin started to noticeably gag just hearing this combination.

"Liver, anchovies and sauerkraut?" He asked. "Doesn't sending a kid to school with a lunch like that constitute child abuse?"

"No one's making you pay attention Monty, just eat your cornflakes!" Sarah called out, defending Preston. While she had a feeling the audience was going to be as receptive as it ever was, the last thing Preston needed was anyone going out of their way to make trouble. "Go Pres!"

"More like Presto Lameo." Victor answered, playing about with his phone. He had returned to school following a trip to the hospital following his 'battle' with Spinferno. He had, fortunately, only suffered a few minor injuries, mostly superficial burns, but now that the video had gone viral, it had only increased his image, and his ego. Sarah could foresee it being trouble if he decided to act out during Preston's show. Monty started laughing so much he almost started snorting milk at Victor's 'humour'.

"Let's hope this works." Sarah whispered to herself, crossing her fingers and willing things to go well for Preston. He pulled off his hat and started to show it around the room, tipping it ever so slightly towards the crowd.

"Before you, you see an entirely normal, empty hat." Preston stated. Sarah started to get a little concerned now; he only titled the hat a short way, allowing the kids to see a few millimetres at most inside. It wasn't like he was letting anyone actually inspect the hat or anything, so it was pretty obvious how the trick was going to be done. The rabbit was already in the hat. She just hoped...

"Hang on there Chango!" Victor called out. All of the Rangers immediately groaned. This was exactly what he didn't need. Victor had seemed to take it upon himself to call out his show before it had really started. Like any other kind of show, if the opening act fell flat, then it would be virtually impossible to recover from there.

"Victor, why don't you just sit down?" Hayley asked him. Victor though did precisely the opposite, heading over to Preston and pulling the hat out of Preston's hands.

"HEY!" Preston protested, but he didn't really want to start any trouble in front of the other kids. It wasn't that long ago that Victor had been in the hospital, and there was still a large part of Preston that was the kid that Victor had pushed around for years.

"An entirely empty hat eh?" Victor asked as he reached inside, pulling out Preston's pet rabbit. "Empty hat, eh? I think not!"

Preston was struggling standing before all the assembled kids in the breakfast room. He was angry that Victor had taken it upon himself to spoil his show, he was embarrassed that his very first trick had been so obvious that even someone as dense as Victor could figure it out, and most of all, he was nervous seeing the judgemental crowd now staring at him, wordlessly questioning how he thought they would ever be impressed with something like that. He tried his best to salvage the situation.

"A rabbit! Amazing! It's Magic!" He declared. Unfortunately the whole room with the exception of his friends were booing and started to throw stuff at him. The Rangers were quickly in Victor's face about the whole incident.

"Victor, why would you do that?" Sarah screamed at him.

"Don't blame me; the silver spoon kid was the one that was interrupting everybody! I just wanted to get my breakfast in peace." Victor snorted.

"Could you stop swinging me around please?" A voice asked. Hayley just blinked. "I'm kind of not feeling good here."

"You couldn't just leave him alone could you? You always have to pick on people to make yourself feel like a big shot don't you Victor?" Sarah snapped at him, shoving him. "That doesn't make you smart, that makes you an ass!"

"Whoa, could someone tell this asshole to stop handling my junk?" The voice said again. "There's a little situation here!"

"Well, the least you can do is..."

"Awww gross!" Victor said, recoiling as he looked to his arm in disgust, throwing the rabbit into Preston's hat and handing it back to him. "Your rabbit peed all over me!"

"I tried to warn him!" The voice said as Preston took the hat sheepishly.

"Well...it serves you right!" Sarah yelled at him as he went to the nurse's office, likely concerned about the effects of rabbit urine on his burns. Preston looked a little down-trodden as he clutched the hat to his chest. Sarah was over by his side, putting her arm around him.

"I'm sorry about that Preston." She told him. "Come on, I'll help you clear all this away."

Preston didn't say anything though, instead he just nodded his head and went with her, while the rest of the kids all scattered to get ready for their first class. Calvin just noticed that Hayley was standing, looking completely confused.

"Hayley, it's not the biggest deal in the world." Calvin told her. "We always knew Victor was an asshole. So does everyone else, you know most of the kids only voted for him as Class President as a joke."

Hayley didn't say anything, instead just thinking of the whole situation that had gone down. She had now heard two voices that no one else seemed to, two separate, distinct voices.

"Hayls, is everything alright?" He asked her.

"Yeah...yeah, sure Cal." She answered, pulling into him. "How about we take those notes of yours to Mick, see what he says about them?"

Up on the Warrior Dome, Cosmo had been summoned to the Throne Room at Galvanax's insistence. He was becoming frustrated with how long it was taking to crush a few humans and acquire the Ninja Power Stars, and while Cosmo had tried to stall him with talks of meetings and conference calls with the network, he had eventually been railroaded into a meeting. Quite literally, as he was on his way to his office, Ripcon on Galvanax's orders had grabbed him and physically dragged him into his throne room.

Galvanax was flipping through a few cards that Cosmo had with him, that he was telling him were prospective candidates for the next challenger for the Rangers. Galvanax didn't have much in the way of control over the production of the show, but he did have a certain level of creative control over his own matches by contract...not to mention the threat of a few random executions meant that every now and then it was better to give him a little bit of leeway in controlling the show, even if it was more of an illusion of control than anything else.

"This one looks weak!" He complained as he flipped through the cards, considering each of the monsters in turn. This had been the way of things for the better part of an hour. Every monster he came across in the deck had something wrong with it. It didn't look strong, it was too old, it was too young...there was one truth in the matter. Galvanax really didn't want to choose another competitor. He wanted to force his hand and go to Earth himself. "This one looks dumber than his brother! And this one, this one looks like a real bruiser, but it's just so UGLY!"

"Hey! That's my mother!" Ripcon complained loudly, seeing the card. His mother had been on the roster for a long time, and it was her that had encouraged Ripcon to go into the Warrior Dome in the first place. His mother was coming close to retirement age, and he was well aware of the fact that the odds increased every time she went to the arena that she wouldn't come back. In many ways, he was hoping that Cosmo would make the decision for her and simply terminate her contract before sending her to a bout she couldn't survive.

"Well, you've got to pick SOMEONE to fight the Rangers or we don't have a show!" Cosmo reminded him. "I keep telling you champ, this production stuff is way harder than it looks, and I know you've got a LOT of responsibilities. Tell you what, I have an executive coming from a soft drinks company that I know will be just DYING to meet you and..."

"Enough with the lightweights! It's time the Rangers faced a true heavyweight!" Ripcon said, taking his cue. His true ambition was to go from the active roster to production. While the money was better on a per-show basis for the warriors, the fact was that production was a steady wage, and also didn't have the occupational hazard that each show could be their last. Galvanax had suggested to Ripcon to put on this show for Cosmo so that he could see he wasn't the only one that wanted to see him have a piece of the Rangers. For Cosmo, it was a way to demonstrate that he could come up with entertaining matches and show he was suitable for production. Perhaps if Galvanax could best the Rangers and get the Power Stars, he could finally get his production job and maybe even get paid enough for his mother to retire out of her contract. Ripcon took the championship belt down from its case and presented it to Galvanax. "Like you boss!"

"Ah, my championship belt!" He declared, taking it from him and beginning to strap it on. "I'll start by destroying that Red Ranger twerp that stole my Nexus Prism, and prove once again that there is only one true Galaxy Warriors Champion!"

"Champ, I'm not so sure..."

"You're not so sure what?" Galvanax roared. Cosmo started to back away in terror, only for Madame Odious to step between them.

"I think all he was going to suggest champ, is that I'm not so sure the Rangers have proven they are worthy of facing a heavyweight of your calibre." She suggested. "You wouldn't want to look like you're only willing to face paper opponents would you?"

"You call them paper opponents?" Galvanax asked her. "They've defeated FOUR of your warriors!"

"And the threshold for the championship scene is normally 25 wins." Cosmo reminded him.

"Well, rules can be bent, even broken, can't they?" Galvanax stated as he headed for the door. Ripcon followed him closely. Cosmo just looked to Odious for a moment.

"Odious, the Champ isn't thinking things through." He told her. "I have a real gravy train rolling with these Rangers, the last thing I want is to feed them to Galvanax and have them chewed up before I even get the first action figures off the production line!"

"Well, speaking as the champion's representative, I'm not keen on this idea either." She agreed. "It has been a while since his last bout. I really would prefer to see him get a few practice bouts to make sure he's still in shape before he faces someone like the Rangers."

"So you'll convince him to change his mind?" Cosmo asked.

"I think you overestimate anyone's ability to get the champ to change his mind." She replied. "But perhaps we can limit the damage if we put out a little challenge bout...under supervision of course."

"I like the way you think Odious." He answered. "I know I can always count on you to ensure you keep getting your management checks."

As he left, she smirked.

"Oh yes, but only I can babysit such an ego for so long." She stated. "Sooner or later, I have to start looking for new, younger talent to replace them. A manager is only as good as their Next Big Thing."


	2. Magic Moments

In the Paint Room, coming up towards lunch time, Mick was looking at some computers while Redbot cleared away some tools. He noticed that Mick was surprisingly quiet. Both of them had been taken as slaves at the same time, and had known each other before the Warrior Dome, so more than anyone, Redbot knew that Mick was rarely quiet about anything. His constant chatter was kind of a personal tick. Even when he was working he would normally be speaking or singing or otherwise making noise, kind of a way to occupy his overactive mind. Even sleeping he had a habit of chattering. The only times he was ever quiet was when he had something he was concentrating on with every fibre of his being.

"I believe the phrase the humans use is 'penny for your thoughts'." Redbot stated.

"Hmm?" Mick asked.

"You've not said anything in over 45 minutes." Redbot answered. "As someone who has known you since you were a child and has infallible memory banks, I can say with authority that's a record."

"Oh, it's nothing." Mick told him, stroking his chin. "At least...I hope it's nothing."

"So it might not be nothing." Redbot surmised. Mick looked to him, before taking a deep breath.

"I always knew that the Ninja Steel had mystical properties. Even before I started looking into legends surrounding it, I heard amazing things about weapons and armour forged from it." Mick told him. "Brody told me that his father forged a ninjato out of the Ninja Steel. That was the sword he used against Galvanax, and it was the sword he used to split the Ninja Nexus Star."

"Yes, that's what he told me too." Redbot stated.

"Well, since the Ninja Steel was only shards, the only way he'd be able to get a large enough piece to make a sword would be to melt it down and forge it in a mould." Mick told him.

"So?" Redbot asked.

*"Melting and casting is a terrible way to make a sword!" Mick informed him. "The metal ends up far too brittle to make tools. Making a sword out of steel that way would make a sword that would almost certainly break the first time it was used in battle. Ordinarily what the smith would have to do is heat the metal until it's malleable, and then hammer it into shape while it's hot, before cooling it down to harden it."

"Perhaps the chemical makeup of Ninja Steel is unusually strong." Redbot suggested.

"Well, that's pretty much what I presumed, but I didn't stop to think about any other properties it might have." Mick told him. "But...I noticed something odd, something that got me thinking that maybe the Ninja Steel doesn't only have physical properties."

"What kind of properties do you think it had?" Redbot asked him. Mick started to pace.

"Dane Romero was a ninja, right? He was already trained in how to forge weapons right?" He asked. Redbot just nodded. "So why would someone who has trained for years in how to forge weapons all of a sudden forge weapons in a way that is completely counter to everything he's been taught? Why would someone with the experience and know-how of Dane Romero suddenly think making a sword in a way that is literally the entirely wrong way to do so a good idea?"

"I...don't know." Redbot replied.

"Maybe someone told him to do it." Mick stated. "Or, more accurately...some THING."

"I'm not sure I follow." Redbot stated.

"There are some legends of the Ninja Steel enhancing the passions of people that handle it, allowing them to perform great feats." Mick told him. "I was starting to think, what if it's not just a legend?"

"What kind of effects do you think it's had?" Redbot asked him. Mick held up a finger, before going to Brody's notes.

"Well, I was just thinking, we know that Brody is great at ninjitsu, he was so good that he managed to get us off the ship." Mick told him. "He's even managed to teach the others in ninjitsu."

"He's definitely great." Redbot agreed.

"Yes, he is...maybe too great." Mick answered. "Brody was only eight when he was kidnapped. His father only trained him for about three years."

Mick pulled up a display on the computer.

"I checked a rough projection. After three years of intensive training, a martial artist should have improved to about this level." He said, showing the progression on a chart. "Even taking into account the fact Brody would have trained full-time as opposed to only a few hours a week, the average projection would put him about here."

"But he trained on the ship." Redbot reminded him. Mick smiled.

"Yes, but he trained without any kind of supervision or direction." Mick reminded him. "I plotted a progression for where I'd expect a martial artist to be training in such a way from the level Brody was at when he was kidnapped. Given his development in physical strength, endurance, speed not to mention his practice of the techniques he already knew and adapting them to new situations, I'd expect him to be about here."

"Brody is a remarkable person though." Redbot told him. Mick then just brought his attention back to the computer.

"I'd expect him to be here." Mick told him. "I entered details of his training notes and ideas...and it puts him about here."

Mick showed the progression on the chart. Redbot took a step back.

"That is..."

"It's incredible, his progression is WAY beyond what it should be!" Mick told him. "Even with full-time professional guidance, I'd still only expect him to be about here...frankly his skill level is completely unprecedented. These ideas he's coming up with aren't just highly advanced, they're entirely new concepts that should never have occurred to him! So where is he coming up with this?"

"You think the Ninja Steel is somehow giving him these ideas?" Redbot asked.

"I ran an analysis on it. Something I never realised before is that the Ninja Steel is giving off a low-level radiation." He told Redbot.

"Radiation?" Redbot asked, sounding worried. "You've all been handling it..."

"Believe me, I had the same concern, but it's not normal radiation. It's really strange, more of a mystical nature than anything else." Mick told him. "If I'm correct, I think it's what's had this effect on Brody."

"But Brody only handled it for a short time as a child." Redbot told him. "It was his dad that worked with it the most. If it's had this much of an effect on him..."

"Exactly." Mick told him. "And the others have been handling it pretty extensively for weeks. I think we need to keep an eye on them in case we see any other effects."

Just then, one of the entrances opened and Calvin and Hayley arrived.

"Hey, Mick, I had a few ideas I wanted to run by you for how to fix Brody's truck." Calvin told him. He started to pull notes out of his pocket and lay them out. "Now, I've seen a lot of this stuff lying around the shop class, I just wanted your opinion on it."

Mick took one look at the plans, and then to Redbot. There was a bit of a knowing glance between them as Mick took in Calvin's plans.

"This...this looks really promising." Mick told him. "So, why don't you take me through your thought processes?"

Meanwhile, in the canteen, Preston was sitting with some of his books and tricks arrayed beside him. His rabbit was in its cage, with a blanket covering it. Brody and Sarah were sitting across from him, staring at him. They both could see how disappointed he was that his biggest show so far had gone so badly. It wasn't even like it had just gone badly; it hadn't gotten beyond the first trick before Victor managed to wreck it. He just sighed and turned over a card.

"That one?" He asked. Sarah wanted to give him some kind of win, but she could see that he already could tell from her reaction it wasn't her card. She just shook her head sadly.

"Sorry Preston." She answered sympathetically. "Mine was the three of diamonds."

Preston just put the deck back together and started shuffling the cards. Brody looked to him sympathetically.

"Don't worry Preston, just keep practicing. One day your tricks WILL get better." Brody assured him. "I didn't always get my ninja skills right. One time when I was ten, I tried to pick Ripcon's pocket and get some change for a vending machine. He caught me red-handed and broke my arm in three places."

"When I was about five, my parents took me to a magic show." Preston told them both, looking a little down about the whole thing. He pulled up his sleeve, showing them a bracelet that he always wore. "He made this dragon bracelet appear on my wrist. Ever since then, all I've ever wanted to be is a magician."

"And you will." Sarah said, taking his hand in hers gently. "We all see how hard you work. I've never seen anyone dedicate themselves to anything as much as you do with your magic."

"My mom used to love seeing me practice my tricks. She would sit and watch me no matter how many times she had seen the exact same trick, no matter how many times I got it wrong or I managed to make it super obvious how I had done it." Preston said as he reminisced about his mother. "I keep trying and trying, but...half of my tricks never fool anyone, and the other half...the other half they've seen so many times they never impress anyone."

"I trained to be a ninja since I could walk. I made more mistakes than I can remember." Brody told him.

"Yeah, and you don't think I made this hoverboard overnight did you?" Sarah asked him. "One of my first attempts left me without eyebrows weeks!"

"You just have to keep practicing." Brody told him. "It was a struggle, and Ripcon definitely made sure I knew all about it when I messed up, but one day, it all just started to click."

"Yeah, same with me." Sarah agreed. "You'll get there."

Just then, they all heard some rattling, and started looking around. As it got louder, they noticed Preston's hat, which was on the table next to him starting to shake. Preston grabbed the hat, and looked inside, before pulling out a white rabbit.

"See, there you go!" Brody said with a huge smile. "That was absolutely flawless!"

"Yeah, that was amazing!" Sarah agreed. "I swear, I never saw you move a muscle! I have no idea how you put the rabbit in there!"

They both looked to Preston, expecting him to be delighted that his trick had worked out so well, but as they stared at him, his expression was one of surprise instead. He handed the rabbit to Sarah, who started to cuddle it and stroke it as he just put his hat on his head in confusion.

"No, you don't get it." Preston stated, whipping the cloth off the cage. They both looked to the cage, seeing Preston's rabbit, Aloha Mora, sleeping soundly on the floor. It started to stir as the light started to bother him. "This is my rabbit, I only have one!"

"So...where did this one come from?" Sarah asked. Just then, they heard the rattling again. Preston's hat started to rattle on his head, and he looked up nervously. He removed his hat carefully, finding yet another rabbit on top of his head. He removed it carefully, handing it to Brody.

"I have no idea where they're coming from!" Preston told them honestly, feeling a combination of panic and confusion. He had heard the expression about breeding like rabbits, but that generally required at least two rabbits, and even then it took some time. He didn't have any idea where the rabbits were coming from, and more importantly, he had no idea how to make them stop! "It isn't a trick!"

"It's...it's not?" Sarah asked.

"Magic must be starting to click for me." Preston gasped as he thought about it. "I...I think I can do...real magic!"

"Real magic?" Brody asked him.

"Um...maybe this is something we should talk to Mick about?" Sarah suggested. She remembered her friends in Amber Beach talking about some of the remarkable things they suddenly found themselves able to do. Among her friends, one was over 800 years old, and another was over 100,000 years old, and yet the oldest any of them looked was Dr Navarro, who had been in his thirties when he bonded to the Aqua Energem!

"Yeah, how about I take your furry little friends here to a pet store, and you can talk to Mick." Brody suggested, reaching for the rabbit in Sarah's hands. The Pink Ranger just pulled it away.

"Do...do I have to?" She asked. Brody just gave her a withering look.

"I think your parents might like a bit of a say in it if you want to bring home a pet." He reminded her. Sarah felt the crushing disappointment as she realised he was right. She hadn't even discussed a pet with them, and she was considering just turning up from school with a rabbit. She kissed the rabbit, before handing it over with a little pout.

"Spoilsport." She muttered, getting her bag and helping Preston to gather up his tricks. Brody decided to head off to find a pet store that would take the rabbits before Sarah changed her mind about letting him leave with the rabbits. "Come on Presto, let's talk to Mick."

As he pulled on his jacket and picked up his bag and his cage, he looked to his hands and smiled.

"I always knew magic was real!" He whispered to himself.

In the yard behind the Shop Class, Mick was watching Calvin expertly put together an engine almost completely from scratch for Dane's truck. While it wasn't necessarily in a bad way, the fact that it had sat in a barn for ten years without anyone taking care of it meant that many of the components were rusty and aging, and while most of them would work, it was for the best that most of them be replaced since it likely wouldn't be long before they were needing replaced anyway.

Preston and Sarah walked into the yard, Preston still staring at his hands with a huge smile on his face as he came into the yard. Hayley noticed them arriving, and rushed to meet them.

"Guys, I have to show you something!" Preston rushed out. Hayley blocked his path, looking around.

"Brody isn't coming is he?" She asked, looking around for signs of the Red Ranger. They intended to give him the newly repaired truck as a surprise when they had it up and running. She was worried he'd come into the yard and ruin the surprise.

"No, he's off to the pet store." Sarah grumbled, still thinking about the rabbit she had desperately wanted to keep.

"Great, great! Calvin is almost done fixing up his dad's truck!" Hayley said, showing him the truck. Redbot was working on the exterior, which had also needed a little TLC. Mostly it just needed a good clean, something that Redbot was more than happy to do, while Calvin was working on the engine.

"You've...almost finished?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, I don't know what it is, it's like I'm possessed or something!" Calvin said with a smile. "I just started putting parts together and it's like...everything just fell into place just right!"

"Well don't get cocky, we still haven't turned her over yet." Hayley reminded him.

"Brody will burst his batteries when he sees this." Redbot added. "I'm going to wax it this afternoon. By the time we give it to him, it'll be as good as new!"

"He'll love it, I'm sure." Preston said, only half-listening to what they were saying. It wasn't that he didn't care about the truck, he knew how much it would mean to Brody to have something of his dad's for himself, but considering the fact that only a few minutes ago he had learned he could perform real life magic, his thoughts were more than a little distracted. "Now, listen to what I HAVE to tell you! This is incredible! The strangest thing just happened!"

"Start her up Hayls." Calvin told his girlfriend. Hayley put her drink on the hood of the truck before getting into the cab of the truck.

"Guys, you're not listening." Sarah stated. "Trust me, you want to hear this!"

"We are listening, trust me." Calvin said as Hayley turned the key. The engine just spluttered and struggled a little.

"One second Preston." She said to him as she tried the key again. "Cal, that sounded better, right?"

"No." Calvin just sighed, looking to Preston. "Presto, do you mind passing me the wrench?"

"Mmmhmm." Preston said, picking up the adjustable spanner and making his way over. As Hayley closed the door to the truck, she only just noticed her drink starting to slide and reached for it, but she couldn't quite get to it in time, and it started to fall straight towards Calvin's face.

"Cal, watch out!" She called out. The Yellow Ranger shut his eyes, expecting a cold, wet splat, but it never came. He slowly opened his eyes, at which he found everyone staring as the cup, and the drink, were just hanging, suspended in the air. Preston was holding the adjustable spanner, which was glowing in his hand, wielding it like a magic wand. They all just stared open-mouthed at this complete mockery of the laws of physics. Even Sarah, who had already seen one of Preston's new tricks was astounded by seeing him completely defy the universal truth of gravity.

"Uh...how did THAT happen?" Calvin asked nervously.

"I did it! That's what I've been TRYING to tell you!" Preston stated. "I stopped the drink! I can do REAL magic!"

"Real magic?" Hayley asked. A couple of weeks ago, this would have been a ridiculous notion to her. The world had seen enough outlandish things with the Power Rangers to know that a lot of things people would otherwise deem impossible were entirely possible. Of course, they had all seen Preston's simple tricks and illusions go completely awry, including one illusion that had ended up setting fire to a rose-bush outside the main entrance to the school.

"I...seriously doubt that." Calvin said. He wasn't able to fully comprehend what he was seeing, but at the same time at a loss to think of an explanation for what he was seeing. A wicked smile crossed Preston's face.

"Oh, you doubt it do you?" He asked, taking away the wrench. The cup fell and the drink splattered all over Calvin. The Yellow Ranger just spluttered and started to wipe his face as he pulled himself out from under the truck. "Now do you doubt it?"

"Definitely not?" Calvin spluttered. "Preston, did I do something terrible to you in a past life?"

"That's amazing!" Hayley gasped as she helped Calvin up and handed him a rag to start cleaning himself. Mick though was more than a little concerned. He had his theories about Brody's sudden progression in his ninjitsu training, but that was largely untested. It was still possible he was just gifted, he had heard of martial artists who were able to attain a Black Belt in a matter of months, though they were rare. However, seeing Preston defying the laws of physics was something that couldn't really be ignored as simply being gifted. There had to be other forces at work. He grabbed Preston and started to inspect him, making the Blue Ranger feel a little uncomfortable.

"Preston, tell me. Did these abilities begin...recently?" He asked.

"Uh...well...no. I've been practicing since I was a little kid." Preston told him. "But now, it's REAL!"

"NOW it's real?" Mick asked, emphasising the recent nature of his abilities. "It's the Ninja Steel!"

"Uh...what?" Sarah asked.

"The Ninja Steel, I found out recently it gives off a kind of radiation, it alters people who handle it regularly." He told them.

"Radiation?" Calvin asked.

"Alters?" Hayley asked. "We're...not going to start sprouting tentacles or anything are we?"

"No, it's more of a mystical energy than true radiation." Mick explained.

"Oh." Preston said, sounding disappointed again. "I guess that makes sense. I knew it couldn't just be me."

"No Preston, it IS you!" Mick told him. "You have a great love of magic, and legend has it that the Ninja Steel can magnify the truest desires of anyone that wields it, allowing you to perform these great feats!"

Preston cheered up a little, and started to swish around the adjustable spanner, wielding it like a wand and imagining himself performing great feats. Mick took his wrist to stop him.

"Preston, you need to be VERY careful using this new power." Mick told him.

"Yeah, we...still don't know exactly what you can do." Sarah reminded him. "You can already break the laws of physics. You don't want to accidentally turn one of us into a giant lump of jello or something do you?"

"Oh...yeah, of course!" Preston said, looking away and smiling.

"Anyway, I need to go and get cleaned up before next period." Calvin said, glaring at Preston a little.

"Yeah, there's still some of the lunch period to go." Hayley answered. "If we get to the canteen soon, maybe not ALL of the decent food will be gone."

As they all left, Mick just sighed and shook his head, placing his face in his hands.

"You don't think Preston's going to be careful do you?" Redbot asked. Mick just shook his head. "Why not?"

"Because he's a teenager." He answered.


	3. The Champ is HERE

In the city, Brody was walking out of the pet store, having managed to trade the rabbits in to them. While he did feel a little bit mean for having taken away the rabbit Sarah had been fawning over, he could see that the supplies she'd need were really pretty expensive, and since she hadn't even asked her parents yet, meaning there was no guarantee she'd even be allowed to keep it, he satisfied himself that using the nominal payment the pet store had given for rabbits that appeared to be in good health, but would still need to be sent for all the necessary shots and suchlike to be on the safe side to get some doughnuts for the team would salve the wound a little bit.

"Bye bunny buds!" He said as he left the store, before starting to head back towards the school. As he was walking though, he was fortunate enough to see a Buzz-cam flying past. Since his connection to the Warrior Dome had now been permanently severed, the team could no longer predict when monsters were about to attack, and were left having to wait until the first reports came in before they could go and find them. Seeing a Buzz-cam was a rare form of advanced-warning that he couldn't pass up, but as it turned around, and seemed to stare at him, hovering in the air for a little while before heading off, he figured it was a little more than a coincidence. He couldn't take the chance it was looking for him and was now about to lead him into a trap. He got onto his Ninja Comm.

"Guys, I just saw a Buzz-Cam downtown." Brody told Sarah as she answered. "I think we've got trouble."

"We're on our way!" Sarah answered, before heading to round up the others.

Brody followed the Buzz-Cam, which led him to a loading area behind some local shops. When he got there, all his suspicions about being led into a trap seemed to be confirmed. Stepping out of some smoke, making his way towards him, flanked by Madame Odious and Ripcon and backed up by about a dozen Kudabots, was none other than the Galaxy Warriors Heavyweight Champion himself, Galvanax.

It had been years since Brody had seen him take the field. Galvanax had been largely protected, defending his title only sparingly and being fed a number of monsters who were simply nowhere near his level all borne out of Odious' and Cosmo's self-interest in keeping him at the top. As the face of the brand, as a champion, Galvanax had a look and an image that was terrifying, and also incredibly marketable. His merchandise sales and the viewing figures on the nights he DID fight were still big business. That said, Brody had seen him fight enough times to know that he had the power to lay waste to whole planets, having been assured that the night he won the title he and his opponent had wiped out over a thousand species in their battle on a single night.

He stood head and shoulders above both of his minions, and his armour glistened in the sunlight, having been polished and prepared for his first appearance on camera in a couple of years. He had his championship belt strapped around his waist for effect, and stood before Brody, glaring at him. He pointed towards him as he prepared to speak.

"Brody!" He growled. Brody didn't wait for the rest of his address, pulling out his Ninja Blaster and unloading it into him. As the blasts slammed home though, they stopped a little way short of him, bursting into multi-coloured flashes of brilliant, blinding light. As everyone's vision started to clear, Brody realised his mistake. The Championship Belt incorporated a powerful conversion field, a strong force field that detected incoming attacks and converted the energy into light energy. It was a precaution deemed necessary to ensure title bouts didn't end before they started. Such was the competition for the title of Champion that it wasn't unheard of for some monsters to launch a pre-emptive strike in an attempt to finish off the champion before he was prepared for the battle. One of Galvanax's last defences hadn't even made it off the Warrior Dome, as his attacker tried to stab him through the back before they teleported, only to be sliced in half from head to crotch in one blow. The ratings took a huge hit that night, with a title bout that technically never even started.

"As I was saying before I was so RUDELY interrupted!" Galvanax continued. "10 years ago, I spared your life! I gave you a home on my ship, and you repaid me by stealing the Ninja Nexus Prism and all the Ninja Power Stars inside it!"

Brody could hardly contain himself. He hadn't stolen anything. The Nexus Prism was never his to begin with. To hear Galvanax spouting his, to put it charitably, revisionist version of history angered Brody almost as much as every evil he had ever visited upon him and his family.

"You LIAR!" Body roared, pointing straight back at him. "10 years ago you invaded my world! You destroyed my father and stole the Nexus Prism from us! You kidnapped me and kept me as a slave for all these years! You took EVERYTHING from us!"

He pulled out his Power Star.

"But now, this Ninja Power Star is going to help me destroy you!" He declared.

"Your father was one of the greatest Ninjas that ever lived, and I destroyed him like he was nothing!" Galvanax declared. "You don't have a chance against me! Once I've delivered you to the same fate, I'll take that Power Star, and your friends' too!"

He had to admit that he felt a little overmatched. With Odious and Ripcon there, he was completely overpowered. Even assuming that Galvanax kept his word, and in his pride kept it a battle between them, he wasn't sure if he would be up to the task. He had been lucky against Ripcon.

He had constructed himself a Black Egg, a simple weapon and diversion from supplies in the ship's kitchen. A Black Egg, as its name implied, was constructed from an egg-shell, which had been emptied, and then re-filled with something harmful, before being sealed with wax. It was a simple weapon used to incapacitate a foe by throwing it into their face. In ancient days, a common approach was to fill it with powdered glass, so that as the enemy blinked to try and get it out, it would scratch the eyes, causing more damage. Fortunately for Ripcon, Body had only access to another option, hot sauce. He had used the spiciest sauce he could lay his hands on to make a very crude form of a pepper-spray bomb, something the ninja had used many times as a distraction, either to allow them to take an opponent down while they were blind, or to escape. Brody had gone for the latter.

However, glancing down, he saw some shadows moving above the shadows of the surrounding buildings and smiled.

"Well, I won't be fighting you." He declared. "WE will!"

With that, his friends all leapt down, landing around Brody. As a reveal, it was pretty basic, but given the fact that they had only been training a couple of weeks, he had to find this level of ninjitsu to be quite impressive. They all stood around him, starting to straighten themselves out to prepare for the fight. He felt a prod on his shoulder though and turned to see Preston looking a little apprehensive.

"Brody...you said Galvanax was big, but...this is ridiculous!" Preston stated. Brody just sighed. So much for any advantage the element of surprise had given them. He could understand Preston's reluctance, Galvanax was a terrifying opponent, even he was feeling it, but letting him know that he scared them was the last thing Brody really felt they should do.

"Um...what are we supposed to do...exactly?" Calvin asked. Brody face-palmed. By now any illusion of strength they had built up was now gone. He understood completely that his team had only been training a couple of weeks, so asking them to go up against one of the most powerful monsters in the universe was a tall order, but within ten seconds, Preston and Calvin had taken them from at least having the surprise of taking it from a one-on-one fight to a five-on-one fight, to letting Galvanax see that not only were they scared, but their confidence in their skills was wavering.

"A ninja never show fear." Brody told him. Calvin just nodded.

"Um...yeah...OK." He responded, adopting a guard. Sarah could see that some harm had been done to their credibility by this, and looked to Hayley, locking eyes with the White Ranger, before they both stepped forward. From her time in Amber Beach, Sarah knew that there was as much power in the impression of power as there was in power itself. Sometimes it was more important that your opponent thought you were more confident and strong than it was actually being confident and strong. They both stepped forward.

"So, THAT'S Galvanax, huh?" Hayley scoffed; concentrating every ounce of strength she had into just keeping her shoulders and head upright to look strong.

"I know, I thought he'd look much tougher than...THAT!" Sarah stated.

"What?" Galvanax responded, looking a little stunned. It had been a long time since anyone had dared to speak back to him. His reputation was enough to turn the stoutest of hearts.

"He looks more like...the world's ugliest action figure!" Hayley said, already finding her confidence wavering a little, and struggling to find things to say. Sarah remembered her time watching Koda wrestling, and seeing the cameras, remembered the power of the promos they would do.

"That belt seems awfully big, maybe like you're...compensating for something?" She suggested. Even Odious and Ripcon looked decidedly stunned by that. "That title doesn't impress me in the slightest. If you aren't man enough without a title, you'll NEVER be man enough with it!"

Up on the Warrior Dome, the crowd was eating this up! They had been promised, and delivered an appearance by the champion. They had been promised a battle between the champion and the Rangers, and here they were facing off! Now, the Rangers weren't just facing off against him, but they were actually insulting the champion, speaking to him in a way no other had done so in as long as most of the audience could remember!

"Wow! That was so cold; I felt that all the way up here!" Cosmo stated. "What do you say to that Champ?"

"RIPCON!" Galvanax screamed, ripping off his title belt and throwing it to him. "Hold this! You don't think my title means anything? Let's see if you feel that way when I feed you your own entrails!"

Galvanax gripped his naginata in both hands, rushing straight for the Rangers, who only barely had time to morph before he was right on top of them. His first rush went straight through them like a bowling ball, scattering them in all directions. Calvin was lying on the ground, and only just looked up in time to see Galvanax driving his blade down. He split his legs, causing Galvanax to miss, but only by a small margin, a rather delicate area.

"Um...Sarah, do me a favour, next time you feel like pissing off the Big Bad?" Calvin asked. "Please don't!"

On the Warrior Dome, the crowd was on their feet, and the whole room was shaking. This was the kind of thing that Cosmo dreamed about, the kind of thing that he wanted to see, but at the same time in the back of his mind, he could only think of the lost opportunity. With some time, with some more battles, he could have built up the Rangers and Galvanax to the point where a match between them would have been an event for the ages. With some time and advanced warning, he could advertise and promote the match, building it into a true pay-per-view spectacular. Unfortunately thanks to Galvanax's hot temper and lack of patience, he was giving away the match essentially for free on network television!

The merchandise sales, the viewing figures, the advertising rights, he knew all of them would be way up, but with some time to put together a promotional package and built anticipation, he could have had pay-per-view, he could have had advertisers literally murdering each other for a time slot. He would have had people going to WAR for the right to be named a sponsor of the event, all the while watching the coin roll in like a glorious golden waterfall. He had to make do with the fact that right now, his studio audience was on the point of an all-out riot and the Kudabot security had to call in almost four times their number as reinforcements.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is no longer just a battle, this...is...WAR!" He declared loudly, turning back to the screen.

Back on Earth, the Rangers were learning just how strong and dangerous Galvanax really was as he moved with amazing speed for someone so large and heavily armoured. Even without his Conversion Field, their blows seemed to only affect him in a minimal way; such was the strength of his armour, while every one of his blows in return felt like an explosion.

"I should have fed you to the Skullgators the day I found you!" Galvanax screamed as he swung his weapon, hitting Brody hard enough to send him careening into a concrete wall and imbedding him there. Sarah and Hayley both rushed for him, managing to knock his naginata from his hands and score a few strikes, but before long, he grabbed each of them by the throat, strangling them in a grip that would put a Jaws of Life to shame.

"I'll snap your delicate little necks like..."

"Hay, Galvanax!" Preston called out as he slid between his legs, aiming up with his Ninja Blaster. "FINAL STRIKE!"

He caught Galvanax straight in the eyes, but even on full power, he only succeeded in blinding him. The Champion started to stumble, and as she fought for Breath, Hayley noticed one of his pauldrons was loose, exposing the restraining strap.

"Sarah, his right shoulder!" Hayley called out. Both the Pink and White Ranger went for him while he was still blind, targeting the pauldron. Hayley managed to dislodge it, while Sarah caught it with her swipe, taking it completely off. It exposed his shoulder and neck, giving a tiny window of opportunity. Calvin seized on it, launching himself into the air.

"Steel Slash!" Calvin screamed. "Final STRIKE!"

He drove it down point first, plunging it between Galvanax's shoulder and neck, causing him to cry out in pain. The evil warrior repaid Calvin by grabbing him and slamming him into the ground, sending asphalt flying, but as the Rangers rolled away to regroup, Odious and Ripcon interjected between the Champion and the Rangers.

"Champ!" She screamed, seeing her investment, and her gravy train struggling to stay on his feet.

"Get out of my way!" He yelled.

"Galvanax, a word!" She hissed, pulling in closely, to talk to her client quietly. "It's been a long time since you faced anything like this; clearly you have underestimated the Rangers."

"I will..."

"Champ, you've been wounded already; the fans have seen you bleed!" She reminded him. "There are five of them, if they knock you down, even once, it will make you look weak! You know how your fans hate weakness!"

Galvanax hated to admit it, but she had a point. He had gone in without thinking, and had underestimated the Rangers. He had faced one before, and it was clear that Dane was far more skilled than these Rangers, and so he had thought he could take them all out himself. Perhaps taking on five Rangers hadn't been the wisest decision. He shoved Odious aside.

"ENOUGH!" He called out, pointing directly at the Red Ranger. "Red Ranger, you are the one that has stolen from me, not these other pipsqueaks! When you're ready to face me Mano-a-mano, then we'll settle this! Until then, remember this day, think on this as you tend to your broken bodies...if you survive...SLOWGRE!"

Odious was pleased with this decision, and quickly ran to grab Ganvanax's naginata, while Ripcon recovered his pauldron. In a flash of light, the Rangers were confronted by a creature that looked a lot like a turtle wearing a scuba tank. Odious and Ripcon came to Galvanax's side, before disappearing.

"He got away!" Sarah complained.

"Um...am I the only one that's ENTIRELY alright with that?" Calvin asked. Preston and Hayley both shook their heads, they were happy with any result that meant they didn't have to face Galvanax any longer.

"Well, it's not done yet." Brody reminded them as he finally dug himself out of the wall, rejoining his team. "Galvanax left us some other playmates."

"I guess this is the part of being a Ranger that sucks." Sarah sighed, still reeling from their beating at Galvanax's hands.

"I guess the rub-down and the spa bath will have to wait a little while." Calvin commented, gripping his Ninja Sword in both hands as they charged into battle. "GOONGALA!"


	4. Magical Mishap

Up on the Warrior Dome, Galvanax arrived back, and was quickly swarmed by attendants. The audience was already abuzz, having seen the Champion break off from battle.

"Get back you parasites!" Ripcon warned them, drawing one of his katana. "Clear some room, the Champ..."

"The Champ is absolutely FINE!" Galvanax roared, shoving both Ripcon and Odious back, hefting his championship belt onto his shoulder. He started striding confidently to the edge of the stage. "It is but a scratch!"

"But Champ..."

"The Rangers are no serious match for me, finishing them now would be pointless!" Galvanax stated, before looking to Cosmo. "They wanted a taste of what it means to mess with the champion, and they got it! Now, they can earn their shot just like everyone else! They aren't worthy of falling to my blade!"

"You heard it folks, your champion just wanted to give you a little taste of what may come!" Cosmo declared as he took the mic, beginning to whip up the crowd. He was glad that the fight had been broken off, not because he genuinely cared whether either Galvanax or the Rangers fell, but because thanks to Galvanax jumping the gun, the match would have been broadcast essentially for free on standard network television. He had hoped to preserve their first meeting for a special Pay-Per-View event, but now, now he was hoping that with a little damage control and massaging of the facts, he could turn this into a fantastic advertising opportunity. "The Champ is gracious to those who would earn their way to the top, and is giving Slowgre, one of our long-term talents who has racked up an impressive string of victories!"

The crowd let out another cheer, seeming to be glad that the show hadn't come to an abrupt end. They were already lapping up the spectacle of Galvanax in action, and seeing that cut short had to be disappointing, but now, knowing that the champion was just toying with the Rangers in order to generate interest in a re-match. Cosmo grinned evilly seeing the crowd buying what he was selling. They were marks in the truest sense of the word, he could sell them turds and call them diamonds and they'd buy everything he had to offer.

"Now that we've seen the Champion showing the Rangers their place, let's see how they fare against someone on their level!" Cosmo declared. Galvanax stepped off the stage with Ripcon and Odious, striding confidently towards his quarters.

"You were acting all along! You were giving them a false sense of confidence!" Ripcon said with a smile. "Nice work champ! I should have known that Rat Bait wouldn't be able to take you down, he isn't even a match for me!"

"You got lucky. Your fans saw you bleed." Odious reminded him.

"Only because I wanted them to think they had a chance!" Galvanax growled, snatching the pauldron from her and throwing it to Wrench, who was taking a maintenance report from one of his interns. "You there! Fix this and bring it to my quarters to re-attach!"

"He's quite the showman." Ripcon said, looking to Odious. "You don't need to worry; your meal ticket is still just fine."

As he left, Odious just breathed a sigh of relief, before shaking her head.

"I never put all my eggs in one basket." She answered, heading for one of her secret doors. "You got lucky today champ. I'm not losing my revenue stream because of your carelessness!"

Back on Earth, the battle with Slowgre was well underway. The Rangers were already hurting and exhausted after their battle with Galvanax, but there was no time for a rest between rounds. Although there were no people around, they couldn't afford to risk letting Slowgre and his Kudabots taking the fight somewhere there were.

"A ninja fighting a turtle? That's a wacky combination!" Brody said as he took on his opponent. Calvin just looked to Hayley as he struck down a Kudabot.

"He's joking right?" He asked. "He's never heard of..."

"Calvin, I was ONLY kidnapped ten years ago!" He reminded him. "The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were a thing in 2007!"

"Well I could really do without these FOOT bots!" Preston responded, sliding along the ground and cutting the feet off six of the Kudabots as he went, causing them to fall to the ground, where they just flailed helplessly. "Get it?"

"Wow, I am so glad I met you guys!" Sarah giggled, cutting down another couple. "I used to think I was a dork until I met you."

"That's it for the Kudabots!" Hayley exclaimed as she took down the last of them, driving her sword through its chest and bearing it to the ground. "Come on, Brody needs help."

"They say you're tough!" Slowgre taunted the Red Ranger as he blocked one of his attacks, knocking him down. "No wonder Galvanax decided you weren't worth his time."

"Hey, shell-brain!" Sarah called out, kicking him in the back from the air. She felt the force reverberate up her leg from the impact as Slowgre barely moved. She started hopping away. "Kicking a giant turtle in the shell, yeah, good call Sarah!"

"You know, there is another word for what your boss did." Calvin said as he grabbed the creature, holding it in place. "Where I come from, we call it RUNNING AWAY!"

Hayley ran at him, swinging her sword into his exposed chest, but before long, Slowgre had broken out of Calvin's grip. Seeing that he was now surrounded, he just smiled, realising that now was the time for his special ability. He hit the valve on his gas tank and started to spin around, creating a huge cloud around himself. Sarah, Calvin and Hayley were all caught in the cloud and fell to the ground, coughing.

"Whoa, that is RANK!" Calvin spluttered. "He just...sprayed us with something."

"I feel...really weird." Hayley agreed as they all looked up at Slowgre. He was bearing down on them, ready to attack.

"How do you like my mist Rangers?" He cackled. Just then, Preston came into view. The Blue Ranger could feel his exhaustion building, but seeing his friends in trouble, he knew he had to do something or they could be crushed before they had a chance to recover. He doubted he had much strength left for an attack, but that was when a thought came to him. He didn't need strength. At least...not physical strength, all he needed was the newfound power of the Ninja Steel. He had never tried to use his magic in an attack before, but he had managed to stop a cup falling and produced a couple of rabbits...that was KIND of the same thing right?

"Dragon's Ire, Mystic FIRE!" He called out, waving his hands in the air. The Rangers all watched as blue energy formed up around his outstretched arm, taking on the form of a dragon, before a thirty foot column of flame erupted from its mouth, heading straight for Slowgre. The creature screamed and started dancing in pain.

"Hot, hot, hot, hot...!" He screamed, before disappearing from view.

"Whoa, amazing!" Preston called out as he de-morphed, staring at his hands with a huge, bright smile on his face. The other Rangers were by his side as quickly as they could, de-morphing as well. They were grateful for the respite that Preston's new power had bought them; none of them felt much like continuing the fight. "Easy! Did you guys see that? Wasn't that dragon I made awesome?"

"Yeah, I must admit, it was pretty cool." Sarah agreed. "Or...you know...hot!"

"You know, I think I'm ready to show the world some real magic!" Preston declared, grinning brightly. He couldn't help thinking about his disappointing show earlier on, and how Victor had ruined it before he even started. He wondered if he would be able to wreck the illusion if there was no trick. It would be kind of hard to argue that a person was levitating if the whole audience could surround them and check for themselves that there were no wires or rods or anything holding them up as opposed to some sleight of hand tricks involving rings or wands to try and convince them.

"Preston...what you did was cool, but...I'm not so sure..." Sarah started to say, seeing the thought processes going on in her friend's head. She had to admit that if she had abilities that spectacular, it would be tempting to show them off. However, she had remembered her friends in Amber Beach telling her that there were some unofficial rules for the Rangers, and one of those was not using their powers for personal gain. Preston though didn't seem to be listening as he turned back to her, pointing back to the rest of them.

"Tomorrow morning, I'm putting on my best show EVER!" He declared. "See you back at school!"

With that, he clicked his fingers and disappeared. Brody and the others all looked to each other and groaned, realising that they were left walking.

"Well, at least we've got home economics this afternoon." Hayley grumbled. "Right now, I could use a whole lot of chocolate!"

"Hey, I still have the money from the pet store." Brody reminded them. "How about we stop off for doughnuts on the way?"

"That sounds great to me!" Calvin announced.

As they left, Slowgre appeared from hiding, watching them leave. He looked to one of the Buzz-cams and started laughing.

"The Rangers think they've beaten me, but this is just round one!" He declared. "My mist will soon slow them all down, to a crawl!"

Up on the Warrior Dome, Wrench came into Galvanax's chambers rather nervously, carrying his pauldron after effecting repairs on it. He didn't really have too much to do; the only thing that had actually been damaged was the strap.

"Master Galvanax?" He asked cautiously, coming in. He didn't get an answer. As he came in, he looked around, finding the creature kneeling on a mat, facing away from him. He approached him quietly and cautiously, hoping not to arouse his anger for interrupting him while he was meditating.

He could see his exposed shoulder, and the wound that the Rangers had inflicted. It looked hand-stitched, like Galvanax had seen to it himself, and he was kneeling over some kind of device that was burning, releasing a fine mist into the air. He presumed it was probably some kind of pain medication.

"Master Galvanax?" He asked coming closer. As he was almost on him though, Galvanax grabbed him, before snapping to his feet and driving him against a wall. "Master Galvanax, it's me! I fixed your armour!"

"The Champ doesn't let just anyone into his chambers." Odious declared as she arrived. Wrench couldn't see where she had come from; he thought they were the only ones in the room. She approached him regally, not exactly in a hurry to get the champion to let him go. "All communications are meant to go through his business manager...that would be me by the way. If you value your life, in future I would advise you remember that and don't enter his chambers without me."

Wrench just nodded wildly in understanding. Odious just looked to Galvanax and smiled.

"He can't exactly re-attach your pauldron if you're holding him can he?" She asked. Galvanax just released Wrench, before returning to a kneeling position. As Wrench got to work, Galvanax could only think about his battle with the Rangers. While he had been dominant, and he had every confidence he could defeat them, he had underestimated them and it had cost him. He could only hope that his air of invincibility had only been eroded just enough that it would pique interest in a rematch, without causing some to believe he had run scared. One thing was certain though; it had been far too long since he had tested himself. Tomorrow, his training would intensify. By the time the Rangers worked their way up the ranks and faced him again, he would be ready.

Back at the Ranger Base, Mick was working in the work shop when Brody arrived at the end of the school day. He was carrying a box of doughnuts, or at least what was left of them.

"Hey Mick, you really have to try these." He told him. "Um...I hope you like custard filing, that was the only one I had left, and I had to practically wrestle Sarah to the ground to keep it."

"Brody, great...um...thanks." Mick told him. "Brody, I want you to come and have a look at this."

He took Brody over to some charts he had been working on. Brody just nodded politely as if they meant something to him.

"Um...this is all really impressive..." He could see Mick wasn't buying it and just sighed. "...OK, I have no idea what any of this even means. What am I looking at?"

"Well, Preston has shown us that contact with the Ninja Steel affects people with its mystical energies right?" Mick asked him. "The thing is, I don't think he's the only one that's been affected. I think you have too."

"Me?" Brody asked. "Mick, I can do some cool stuff, but I can't pull rabbits out of thin air or conjure up dragons..."

"The Ninja Steel enhances people's passions. It latches onto what's important to them and heightens that enabling them to do great things." Mick told him. "In Preston's case, it was magic that was far more visible so we couldn't really miss it when he started..."

"Making stuff appear from nowhere?" Brody asked.

"Exactly." Mick told him. "I decided to study you because out of all of you, you've had the longest connection to the Ninja Steel."

"Mick, I handled it like a couple of times when I was eight." Brody told him. "My dad might have had some wild ideas about training his kids but even he thought letting an eight and twelve year old run around with razor sharp shuriken was a pretty bad idea."

"But I think that was enough." Mick told him. "On this chart, I've plotted roughly where I would expect someone to be in their training in ninjitsu if they had the training you did under your dad and had taught themselves after that."

"You've been studying me?" Brody asked him.

"It's not as creepy as it sounds." Mick told him. "But...here's roughly where you are now."

Brody didn't claim to understand the working, but he could see the difference in the two charts. The one showing his actual progression was way higher than the one of his projected progression.

"Um...Mick, are you sure...?"

"Brody, when we were escaping, you explained to me that breathing technique, that...Prada..."

"Prana." Brody corrected him.

"You said your father never trained you to do it, but you can do it anyway." Mick stated. "Your training comes to you naturally. Concepts and ideas that should be beyond you are coming to you. I think...I think the Ninja Steel has increased your natural affinity for learning and creation of your martial arts techniques."

"Mick, I've just been working hard..."

"But working hard doesn't explain how you can do things you've never been taught by anyone!" Mick interrupted him. "Brody, this is a powerful gift, one that I've suspected for a while, but even your short contact with the Ninja Steel has made you..."

"A Super Ninja?" He asked.

"A super LEARNER of ninjitsu." Mick clarified.

"Mick, I only handled the Ninja Steel a couple of times when I was a kid, and then when we got it back on Earth." Brody stated. "The others have been handling it non-stop for weeks."

"And Preston is already able to bend the laws of reality to his will." Mick concluded. "I think for everyone's sake, we all need to keep an eye on the others."

"Yeah, that would probably be a good idea." Brody agreed, picking up the doughnut and biting it, before realising what he had done. He looked across to Mick, who did not seem amused. "Um...sorry."

The following morning, the Rangers had gotten to school early, more for their support of Preston's latest show than any real desire to take part in the school's breakfast programme. As she went to the counter, Sarah looked into a tray of bacon with a disgusted look on her face.

"Are you a vegetarian too?" Hayley asked.

"Most definitely not." Sarah responded, holding a hand across her stomach. "But I've been feeling weird ever since that turtle..."

"Yeah, I didn't have much of an appetite either last night." Hayley agreed. "Neither did Calvin, we actually had a couple of slices of pizza left!"

"Calvin failing to finish ANYTHING?" Sarah asked in response. "That's practically front-page news."

As Hayley picked up a bowl of museli with berries and sultanas in it, she noticed a kid looking at her with an annoyed expression on his face. He started waving his hands around in an animated manner that indicated he wasn't happy.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realise that was yours!" Hayley said, her hands moving around as she spoke to the kid, who was returning with a jug of milk. She handed him the bowl, at which he took it. Her hands started moving again as she spoke. "I'm sorry, I'll pick something else."

As the kid nodded and left, Hayley just picked up a bowl of cereal. Sarah looked to her with a smile on her face.

"Hayley, I didn't know you knew sign language." Sarah commented. Hayley just looked to her.

"Um...I don't." Hayley responded. Sarah just looked confused.

"Hayley...you were just talking to that kid in sign language." She responded. "I could see his hearing aid."

"Sarah, I think I'd know if I could speak sign language." Hayley answered with a derisive laugh as they headed to their table to take in Preston's show. The Blue Ranger had set up an impressive array of tricks this time around

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Prepare to be amazed by..."

"The only amazing thing you could do is a trick that actually worked." Victor groaned. "Shut up and let us eat in peace!"

"Thank you Victor for volunteering for our first trick!" Preston announced, picking up his hat. "Come on up, if you think you can handle it."

Victor just rolled his eyes and got up, making his way over.

"You guys don't look so good." Brody said, looking to Calvin, Hayley and Sarah. Sarah just pushed her breakfast away from her.

"I don't feel so good either." She muttered. "I thought I'd be OK, but...now I really think I should go home."

"I think you should too. You're no good to us sick." Brody told her. "I'll tell Preston you've gone."

With that, they got up from the table and left. Brody turned his attention back to Preston's show.

"Now Victor, can you confirm that this is a completely ordinary hat?" Preston asked. Victor took it from him and started checking it for any signs of hidden pockets or a false top or anything else obvious. He threw it in the air to confirm it didn't weigh more than it should.

"It appears to be...an ordinary hat." Victor stated.

"Alright, now I shall make..."

"Wait...nothing involving the rabbit." Victor interrupted him. "I could do without your incontinent rodent peeing on me again."

"Oh...um...OK." Preston said, trying to think of something else. He had already come up with a spell for making his rabbit appear. He had even tried it a couple of times to be on the safe side. Now, he had to come up with something on the fly, but he had already managed to conjure a dragon when he needed one, how much more difficult could this be? He started to wave his hands around over the hat.

"Herbal Gerbil, Woolen Mitten...let Victor find a Gentle Kitten." He said, before tapping the rim of the hat. Victor looked into the hat, but dropped it almost immediately and fell to the floor, scooting away from it. The other students laughed, but only for a moment. Soon, they saw a large, black paw emerging from the hat, followed by a head...full of VERY sharp teeth! Before anyone knew what had happened, a full-size adult panther had appeared in the room.

There were screams of panic and everyone started to run for their lives. Monty was frozen to the spot in terror, and had to look like an appealing snack to the cat, because it started to approach him slowly, and sank down ready to pounce. Brody was going for his power star, but Preston held up his hat, at which the panther was drawn back inside.

Monty stood, staring for a moment, before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed on the floor unconscious. Brody just stared at Preston.

"Preston, what the HELL?" He yelled at him.

"I asked for a kitten, not a freaking PANTHER!" Preston screamed as he stared into the hat. "Why did it go wrong?"

"Attention students, this is your Principal speaking! We have heard reports of a dangerous wild animal on the premises!" An announcement came over the tannoy system. "Animal Control have been called and are on their way. We are urging all students to leave the school by the nearest available exit in a calm and orderly manner!"

"Well, the good news is that Sarah and the others don't need to worry about missing any school." Brody commented. "The bad news is, you've just managed to cause an evacuation!"

Preston just stared into his hat, which was now once more an empty, ordinary hat, wondering how in the world his spell could have gone so disastrously and potentially dangerously wrong.


	5. Turtle Victory

Sarah, Calvin and Hayley were all heading out of the school, hoping that all they would need is a day at home to get over whatever was making them ill.

They felt sluggish, and lacked energy. It was just as well Calvin had managed to park Nitro close to the school. None of them felt much like walking home like this. As thoughts of a nice warm bed were starting to sound appealing to Sarah, he looked around at people who were running around, screaming, panicking.

"Great." She thought. "That's all we need, an attack now."

However, as someone brushed past her, she noticed something incredibly odd. As he hit her, nudging her on his way past, by the time she reacted, he was already at the end of the street! Sure, it was no surprise people started moving pretty quickly when they thought they were under threat, but moving that quickly would put Barry Allen to shame!

She looked around and saw people running, and they were all moving so quickly it was all a blur.

"How is everyone moving so fast?" She asked. Hayley and Calvin turned towards her, looking at her.

"I can barely see them." Calvin agreed.

"Hey, watch it!" Hayley called out as she got bumped by another kid running away. However, by the time she had even said it, the kid had disappeared. Calvin checked his watch and looked to the girls, showing it to them.

"Guys...it's taken us almost fifteen minutes to walk from the school door to the gate." He told them. The pieces started to finally fall into place. The distance from the school to the gate was only a couple of dozen feet, even at a leisurely pace and not concentrating on the task at hand, it should only take them about a minute or two. Looking around, Hayley noticed that everyone else was blurring around them and realised what was going on.

"Guys, they've not sped up, we've been slowed down." Hayley surmised.

"The mist!" Sarah stated. "It must have been that mist the big turtle sprayed us with!"

"Hello Rangers!" Slowgre called out, appearing almost exactly on cue. Sarah knew they were in trouble, even Slowgre, who wasn't the fastest of creatures to begin with, by their perception seemed to be sped up to the point that his voice now sounded like one of the characters from Alvin and the Chipmunks. "Feeling a little sluggish?"

They decided not to answer, not with words anyway. They all immediately went for their power stars. They watched as Slowgre crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently waiting for them.

"Oh...are we doing this sometime today?" He taunted them, before rushing over so quickly they could hardly see him. He was now right in all their faces, and before they knew what had happened, he had just plucked the Power Stars out of their grip without a care in the world.

Inside the school, the teachers were locking the place down, all because of reports of a panther in the hallways. The school nurse was just about to bar her door when Preston and Brody arrived, carrying an unconscious Monty.

"What are you two still doing here?" She asked, ushering them in quickly. "Do you want to end up as an entree for a panther?"

"We...um...found Monty lying in the hall." Brody told her. "We didn't want to leave him there. You know...with the panther and everything."

"Bring him to the table." She told them, before starting to examine him. "He appears to be fine, there's no signs of external injury...I'd say he probably fainted when he heard about the panther."

"Oh, he did more than hear about it." Brody said. Preston just looked guilty. He still couldn't understand why his spell hadn't worked. He had asked specifically for a kitten, which was about as far in the feline community from a full-grown adult panther as you could get as far as he was concerned. Why had he been able to conjure a dragon, which as far as he was concerned should have been infinitely more difficult, then failed to conjure a kitten.

"He'll be fine, once he wakes up...and gets a change of underwear." The nurse told them. "But you two, as brave as that was, you shouldn't ignore an instruction to evacuate. You have no idea where that panther is now; you could have ended up on the menu too!"

Brody and Preston both just nodded, even though they both knew that the panther was now gone, having been taken back into the hat. The school corridors now were as safe as they ever were...safer even now there were no students there acting out.

"Now, take a seat and make yourselves comfortable." She told them. "Animal Control should be here soon, and once they tell us the school is all clear, you should be fine to leave."

Just then, Brody's Ninja-Comm sounded. He answered it, seeing Hayley's face in the display.

"Hayley, she's in trouble!" Preston rushed out. "And...why is she talking so slowly?"

"We need to go..."

"NOT so fast!" The nurse called out, barring their way. "Do you think that after having this job for 23 years without losing a single student that I'm going to lose my first one by letting them go out and get eaten by a panther?"

"But we need to..."

"I'm not going to hear another word about it!" She snapped. "You will go as soon as a nice gentleman with a dart gun tells me that thing is safely asleep and in the back of a locked van and no sooner!"

Just then, they heard a knock on the door. Preston and Brody were wondering if this could be the most opportune timing in history and this would be someone from Animal Control to confirm there wasn't a panther. As they opened the door though, it was Mick on the other side.

"What the hell are you doing man? Get in here right now!" She demanded, dragging Mick inside. "Don't you know how dangerous it is out there? Wait...who are you again?"

"Hi, I'm Mick." He responded, waving enthusiastically. "Oh, I just came to tell you that it's completely safe to go out."

"Have Animal Control..."

"No, Animal Control hasn't even arrived yet." Mick told her.

"Then the panther..."

"Oh, there's no panther, there never was." Mick told her, tossing Preston his top hat. "You dropped this by the way."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" The nurse asked him. "People saw a panther! There's footage on the school security cameras...kids are posting images online..."

"Hmm...yes, tell me...how exactly did the panther get INTO the school again?" Mick asked.

"Well, I..." Preston started to say. "It...came out of my hat."

"I see." Mick answered. "Well, the hat wasn't the only thing I found near your magic show. I also found this."

He pulled out a device that looked a lot like a torch, showing it to them, just as Monty was starting to stir and wake up. As Mick clicked the button, a panther appeared in the corner of the room. Monty just let out a high-pitched scream and fainted again, this time falling off the table. Preston and Brody just stared at Mick as he turned it off and the panther disappeared.

"I'm guessing...this was a part of your act?" Mick suggested, raising his eyebrows to let Preston know this was when he was meant to jump in and confirm this part of the story. He started nodding furiously.

"I've never heard of something so reckless in all my years!" The nurse stated, wrenching the hologram projector from Preston's hand and glaring at him, waving it in his face. "Do you not see what your little prank has done? You've caused an emergency evacuation of the whole school! Animal Control are on the way thinking some 500 pound killing machine is stalking the halls of this school only to find out it was some teenager's idea of a joke!"

"B...b...but...I didn't mean..."

"Don't think for one minute the Principal won't hear about this!" She snapped, putting the projector away. "If I were you, I'd be keeping my calendar after school clear for the foreseeable future!"

"He's very sorry, I'm sure he is." Brody said, dragging Preston from the room. "Um...now...we REALLY have to go! See you around!"

As they ran off, Mick just pointed to Monty lying on the floor.

"Should we...um...?"

"Oh, just leave him." She muttered. "That kid's in my office more than the rest of the student body combined. He'll be fine in about twenty minutes."

Preston and Brody arrived pretty quickly, considering the fact that thanks to Slowgre's mist the others had only made it as far as the school gates. As they ran into view, Hayley, Preston and Sarah were only just starting to react to realising their Power Stars had been taken.

"Hold it right there Slowgre." Brody warned him. "You have something that belongs to us!"

"You know that possession is nine tenths of the law right?" He chuckled.

"Hand over the Power Stars, now!" Preston demanded. Slowgre didn't look impressed in the slightest.

"Funny, that's exactly what I was about to say!" He answered. Brody saw the hoses attached to Slowgre's arms and remembered the mist that he had sprayed his friends with. He was painfully aware of the fact that was probably why they were moving as quickly as a tax man on a refund. He tried to think of ways to take the risk of the mist out of the equation.

"Preston, use your magic." Brody told him. "Target those hoses."

"What?" Preston asked, starting to panic. "It's not working right! You saw what happened..."

"Just try it!" Brody called out as he saw Slowgre aiming their way. Preston reached into his hat, pulling out some flags. "Observe! An ordinary scarf! Just...an ordinary scarf.

Slowgre stopped in his tracks, just looking completely puzzled.

"What's that going to...?"

"Until I do THIS!" Preston called out, throwing the string of scarves at him. They wrapped around the monster, binding him in place, and more importantly, crushing the hoses, preventing him from releasing any more mist. Preston held onto the other end, straining against Slowgre as he tried to break free.

"Nice one Preston!" Brody called out as he ran over to Slowgre, snatching the Power Stars from him. "Those don't belong to you! I'll be taking those back I think!"

"Hey, I stole them fair and square!" Slowgre protested.

"Preston, just hold him a little longer!" Brody told him as he morphed. "Ninja Steel Slash, Final STRIKE!"

With that, he sliced through Slowgre, destroying him. He turned to the nearest Buzz-Cam and struck a pose.

"This time, slow and steady DIDN'T win the race!" He stated. "Show's over, Ninjas WIN!"

"Guys...I think I'm speeding back up!" Calvin said as the spell started to dissipate. Sarah smiled as they all started to return to normal.

"Good thing too, I'd like to get home before it's time to retire." She responded as Preston and Brody came into view. "Guys, you did it! You destroyed Slowgre and broke the spell!"

"We did...but...I don't get it." Preston stated. "My magic worked fine there, when I was fighting Slowgre, but...it all went wrong in the school!"

"Pres...you only just got your magic. Maybe you just need to practice with it a little." Calvin suggested. The first time I took apart a carburettor it took me three weeks to figure out how to put it back together. Now I can do it in about half an hour."

"But I did practice! I was fine when I stopped that drink!" Preston continued.

A drink you then let hit me; I'm still pissed at that by the way!" Calvin reminded him.

"Um...maybe we should discuss this later?" Sarah suggested. "Like...once we're sure..."

A beam hit the ground where Slowgre had fallen.

"You know...that isn't going to happen." Sarah continued.

"Alright guys, let's call the Zords." Brody said, slamming his Zord star into place. "Ninja Zords, out of the shadows!"

Meanwhile, up on the ship, Wrench was overseeing the broadcast, watching as Slowgre was grown and given a second chance.

"Why do they always use spells that end when they're destroyed?" Wrench said dismissively. "If it were up to me, I'd use something like a bomb that was completely unconnected to the monster. Let the Rangers think the threats gone and boom! Job done!"

As he was directing the interns to ensure they got the best shots, he noticed Madame Odious acting a little strangely, looking around like she was making sure that no one was watching, before disappearing around a corner.

Wrench followed her, but by the time he got there, she was already gone. It was like she had vanished into thin air! All he could see was a full-size poster of Galvanax on one of the walls, but other than that, the whole corridor was completely empty.

"What are you up to?" Wrench asked himself. Just then, an intern came out.

"Excuse me, Mr Wrench?" He asked. "We're having a little trouble on Buzz-Cam four."

"I swear, I wish you were getting paid so I could dock you!" Wrench said as he stormed back into the control room to help.

Back at the site of the battle, Slowgre raised an arm as he avoided a blow from the Megazord's sword.

"How about some MIST-ery?" He asked as he started to spray them.

"Dragon shield!" Preston called out has he pulled their shield in the way. "We can't afford to let him get us with that mist! If he does, we'll be sitting ducks!"

"So, you countered my mist huh?" He asked. "Never mind, I have more up my shell!"

Jets came out the bottom of his shell, and Slowgre blasted off into the air.

"Since when can turtles fly?" Calvin asked.

"He's too high up!" Sarah complained as they jumped into the air, swinging their sword around harmlessly beneath him. "We can't reach!"

"Yeah, and only Preston's Zord has wings!" Hayley commented.

"Wait, I think I have an idea." Preston stated. "Brody, move over a second!"

"Um...OK!" Brody said, giving up the middle podium. Preston took his place.

"Megazord Dragon Formation!" Preston called out. The Robo Red Zord detatched and took the place of the Dragon Zord as the Megazord's left arm. The Dragon Zord's body and head took the Robo Red Zord's place in the centre, while its wings and the sword became wings and a tail on the Zord. It let out a roar as he completed the transformation. "Wow, it worked!"

"Nicely done Magic Boy!" Sarah congratulated him. "Now let's see if those wings are just for show!"

The Megazord leapt into the air and took flight, allowing it to catch up to Slowgre. Preston raked past him a couple of times, lashing out with claw attack. One of them ripped the jets off his shell, bringing Slowgre down to the ground.

"Alright Preston, this is your show. You finish it!" Brody told him, throwing Preston the Ninja Master Blade. Preston smiled as he snatched it out of the air.

"Oh man, I have just been DYING to get a chance to use this thing!" He called out. "Ninja Master Blade, Power up!"

He pulled the rip cord, powering up the saw blades, before taking the weapon in both hands, lifting it overhead.

"Dragon Lightning, Final STRIKE!" They all called out, unleashing a lightning breath attack that hit Slowgre dead on. In a massive explosion, the creature was finally destroyed.

"Go ahead Preston, you earned it." Brody told him.

"Show's over, Ninjas WIN!" He called out.

Later in the day, by the time Sarah got back to her house, news had already broken about the hoax of the panther on the loose at Summer Cove High. When she came in the door, she was almost taken completely off her feet as her mom and dad immediately grabbed her and hugged her tightly.

"Whoa, um...easy there, I'm fine, really." Sarah assured them. "It was all just a massive misunderstanding I assure you."

"Sarah, sweetheart you must have been terrified!" Her mom said sympathetically.

"Yeah, well...it was all just a hoax so..."

"I have a good mind to call Mr Tien and give him a piece of my mind about that boy of his!" Sarah's mom snapped angrily.

"Um...try to remember he IS my boss!" Sarah's dad reminded her.

"I don't care if he's the Prince of Zandar!" She yelled at him. "I don't care if that boy thinks he's Paul Daniels or not, what was he thinking making people think he had really brought a live panther into a school!"

"Mom, it was just a trick, it was a hologram, there was never any real danger!" Sarah said, parroting the story that Mick had given them to try and cover for Preston. There wasn't much they could do to get him out of trouble, that ship had already sailed; he was due in the Principal's office before school the following morning. However, what they could do was avoid people asking too many questions how he had managed to smuggle a panther into a school, never mind fit it inside a standard top hat! "Preston's tricks can go...a little awry, but he never puts anyone other than himself in any danger."

"Well, just don't go volunteering to let him saw you in half or anything." She grumbled.

"OK, um...I'm just going to make a quick call before dinner." She told them. "Can you excuse me?"

As she ran upstairs, her dad just looked to her mom.

"Claire, I'm being serious, PLEASE don't call my boss to tell him off about his son." He begged her. Mrs Thompson just rolled her eyes as they both headed back to the kitchen.

Up in her room, Sarah got out her laptop and set it up, opening up a skype link. She was happy to see Kendall was available to talk.

"Hey there Dr Morgan, how are things over in Amber Beach?"

"Oh, they're starting to steady out now, the museum is back in order. Now we don't have the lab downstairs we've managed to turn the caves into a recreation of Koda's cave back in Alaska." She told her.

"Really? That sounds amazing!" Sarah told her. "Please tell me you have pictures!"

"Not yet, but I should be sending you something soon." Kendall told her. "But nothing as exciting as a panther roaming your school I'd imagine."

"You...you heard about that?" Sarah asked.

"Sarah, you were pretty much a danger magnet BEFORE you became a Ranger, of course I'm keeping an eye on you." Kendall assured her. "I'm guessing that was one of your guys?"

"Preston just discovered he can do real magic now thanks to the Ninja Steel." Sarah told her. "I think after this though, it'll be a while before he's taking any chances on it."

"Well that's good to hear." Kendall told her. "We have that 'no powers for personal gain' rule for a reason."

"Yeah, I figured as much." Sarah answered. "Well, we were hit by our first spell today."

"What happened?" Kendall asked.

"We were made slow, like...REALLY slow!" Sarah told her. "The monster managed to just walk up and take our Power Stars! Thankfully Preston was able to free us from the spell."

"Spells are definitely the worst. You're talking to a woman who was once shrunk to the size of a Barbie doll! Riley still has pictures of me in that wedding dress!" Kendall told her. "Oh, speaking of weddings, I have some great news! Margaret got the all clear from her oncologist! She's finally off the chemotherapy!"

"That's amazing news!" Sarah squealed in delight. "It's great that she's over that before the wedding!"

"Oh, you better believe she's stoked." Kendall told her. "And...she might not be the only one walking up the aisle soon."

"You're...you're kidding!" Sarah screamed. "Congratulations!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty happy about it." Kendall said with a smile. "It won't be for a while or anything, but Matt asked and I just...couldn't say no."

"Dr Kendall Griffin..."

"Oh no, I'm keeping my last name." Kendall told her. "Matt didn't get a PhD did he? Why should he get his surname attached to my PhD?"

"Well, whatever makes you happy." Sarah answered. "So, how are the plans going for the Royal Wedding?"


	6. New Mysteries

The next day, as the Rangers met up in Mick's workshop, Preston was noticeably down. He had just come from Principal Hasting's office, and it was clear that whatever had happened wasn't good.

"So, how bad was it?" Sarah asked sympathetically.

"After school detention for a week." Brody told them. "For both of us."

"That's...pretty light actually." Sarah commented. "I mean, don't get me wrong I'm glad but...one week?"

"She took into account the fact that there wasn't REALLY a panther, and so there was never any real danger." Brody told them.

"But there WAS a real panther." Calvin reminded them.

"Not as far as she thinks." Brody said, pressing the button on the projector and showing them the panther hologram. "Thanks to Mick making this, she thinks the whole thing was just a hoax."

"But still, both of you?" Hayley asked. "What did you do?"

"I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Brody told them. "Hey, I don't mind much. I live at the school anyway; it doesn't really matter if I do my homework in the detention hall or here in the base."

"Still, you should take this as a lesson." Mick warned Preston sagely. "Your magic is a powerful weapon, but like any weapon, you need to use it responsibly."

"I just...I don't get why it worked with Slowgre and it didn't work in the school." Preston grumbled.

"Well...you know we're not meant to use our Ranger powers for personal gain right?" Sarah asked. "Well...maybe your magic works the same way."

"Yeah, you were kind of trying to show off." Calvin agreed.

"Yeah, I guess." Preston grumbled. "I guess it's back to trying to do my tricks the hard way."

"Well, maybe...but that doesn't mean you can't re-think how you do them." Brody stated. "You have learned other skills Preston, ones that could be used to make your tricks work a little better, with a little practice."

"What like?" Preston asked him. Brody looked to Mick, who just nodded and pulled out a top hat.

"Watch this." Brody said, going over to a bench. The others just watched as he stepped behind it, picking up the hat and showing it to them, allowing them to see it was empty. He even threw it in the air for good measure to show there was nothing weighing it down. He then put the hat down, rim-first on the table by his right hand.

He picked up a scarf and showed it to the Rangers, letting them see it and again, indicating there was nothing in the scarf, before laying it down on the table. He picked up the hat and put it on the scarf, before reaching inside and pulling out a rabbit. The others all smiled and applauded.

"How...how did you do that?" Preston asked him.

*"Come around here." He told him. Preston came around to his side of the table, seeing a hook just under the edge. He then reached into the hat, pulling out a handkerchief that hadn't been there before, one that had metal rings attached to it. He took the rabbit and placed it in the handkerchief, carefully wrapping it up and securing the handkerchief.

"Don't hurt her!" Sarah said, looking a little worried.

"Don't worry, a rabbit's natural instinct is to remain still, it's why magicians use them." Brody assured her, before picking up the bundle and hanging it on the hook. He then placed the hat on the table like he had before; it was then that they saw it was directly above where the rabbit was hanging.

"The rabbit wasn't in the hat before, it was hanging here." He told them. "I then just distracted you with the handkerchief and then when I picked up the hat..."

He picked up the hat, but also the bundle with the rabbit in it. The way he turned the hat, it blocked the view from the front of him swinging the bundle into the hat, so that when he righted the hat, the rabbit was now inside.

"Then when I reach into the hat, I just carefully unwrap the rabbit and..." He pulled it out. "Preston, it's just like a lot of my tricks."

"It is?" Preston asked him.

"Yeah, I can't really turn invisible or disappear. That's impossible." Brody assured him. "But what I can do is distract people, using things like smoke bombs or flash powder while I move."

"That way it only LOOKS like you can disappear!" Preston stated. He just nodded.

"In a lot of ways, being a magician and being a ninja aren't that dissimilar." He assured the Blue Ranger. "Then when people started talking about us being able to disappear and suchlike, we just...let them go on believing that we could."

"That's pretty cool!" Sarah answered.

"Now, we have a surprise for you!" Calvin told Brody as Hayley pulled out a scarf. "It's just this way."

"You guys, what did you do?" Brody asked as they blindfolded him.

"You don't get the concept of a surprise do you?" Sarah asked, waving her hand in front of his face to make sure he couldn't see. "Come on, it's just this way!"

The team led Brody out into the yard, before stopping.

"Why are we in the yard?" He asked them.

"Hey, no peeking!" Sarah reprimanded him.

"Sarah, I have a good sense of direction, and I trained to navigate blindfolded as a kid." Brody reminded her. "So what are we doing in the yard?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out isn't there?" Calvin asked him. "Go ahead, take a look!"

Brody pulled off the blindfold, and was amazed by what he saw.

"My dad's truck!" He called out excitedly, running over to check it out. "Guys, you fixed it!"

"I re-built practically the whole engine from parts I found here in the shop." Calvin told him proudly.

"And, we all helped to give it a good clean and make it as good as new." Hayley told him as Brody bounded excitedly around the truck, inspecting it.

"Guys, this is EPIC!" He called out.

"Now, everywhere you go, you'll have a little bit of your dad with you!" Sarah told him. That was when Brody stopped smiling for a moment.

"Yeah...about that...um...I doubt I'll be going anywhere in it." He told them. They all just looked a little confused for a moment. "I was kidnapped when I was eight, remember? I don't have a licence!"

"Oh...wow...I really should have thought of that." Sarah said as she started to think about it. "Well, Calvin's been driving his truck for a while, maybe he could teach you!"

"Oh...um..." Calvin started to stammer, before looking around rather nervously. Hayley just sighed.

"Go ahead Calvin, you can tell them." Hayley stated. "They're your friends; they won't make fun of you."

"Make fun of you for what?" Preston asked.

"I...I don't know how to drive." Calvin admitted. This totally confused all of the Rangers.

"Hold on, you drive your truck all the time!" Preston stated.

"Actually, I'm his personal chauffeur." Hayley told them. "It's just that none of you noticed."

"So THAT'S why Hayley drives YOUR truck!" Mick said, finally figuring out a nagging mystery from the first time he had met them.

"I don't get it; you love to work on engines so much. Why wouldn't you learn how to drive?" Brody asked him. Calvin took a deep breath and looked to Hayley, who took his hand in a comforting gesture. He had only ever told her this story in full.

"One time when I was little, my parents took me to a go-kart track." Calvin said as he thought about the story. "I had nagged them about it for weeks, I just loved the thought of racing around the track...only when I did, I lost control and...next thing I know, I'm in a duck pond."

The others could see that this was serious for Calvin, and tried hard not to start laughing hearing this. Hayley gave them a warning stare as she stood with her boyfriend.

"The whole thing went over on top of me; it trapped me at the bottom." Calvin told them. "The next thing I know...my dad's hunched over me dripping wet. I was told afterwards I had stopped breathing for almost a minute. They were worried that if it had been much longer that I might have been brain damaged."

"Wow!" Sarah said, no longer feeling in the mood to laugh. The story had taken a hard turn from a funny mental image of a young Calvin speeding into a duck pond into the territory of decidedly not funny in the slightest. "Cal...I'm so sorry!"

"Ever since then I've been terrified of driving." Calvin admitted. "I'm also not too fond of duck ponds."

"I'm not surprised." Preston agreed sympathetically.

"Calvin, you can't let fear rule your life. Maybe...maybe it's time you learned." Brody suggested.

"I'm not sure..."

"Hey, maybe it won't be as scary if we do it together." Brody suggested. "I mean...I literally know nothing about driving. It's a little scary for me too; I'm starting from square one. What do you say? You and I both take driving lessons together?"

"I happen to know drivers' ed. Has a few open spaces." Mick suggested. Calvin didn't seem completely convinced, but seeing his friends gathered around him, he took a deep breath.

"I guess...I could give it a try." He answered. The very thought of getting behind the wheel terrified him. He felt his heart seizing up just thinking about it, but he could see the way his friends were looking at him, and knew that they were there for him. The thought of getting his hands on the wheel and being ultimately in control of a car was terrifying, but the thought of letting them down when they were willing to support him in whatever he decided to do was more frightening. He looked to Hayley, who gave him that same look he fell in love with, the one that let him know that she would be happy whether he went through with it or whether she had to drive him everywhere they went from now until the end of their days. It didn't matter to Hayley that he had this phobia.

"When do we start?" he asked.

Up on the Warrior Dome, Madame Odious was making her way around the ship, dealing with a few matters of business before she came into an abandoned corridor. She looked around, making sure she was on her own, before pulling out a hammer-like device. She waved it in the direction of a Galvanax poster, at which it opened up, revealing a passage behind it. As the poster closed over again, leaving the passage seemingly empty, Wrench de-activated a cloaking device and appeared in the corner. He made his way over to the poster, running a hand over it, finding it solid. It wasn't as though it was just a poster; there was something significantly more substantial behind it, like some kind of security door.

"Well, now I know how you keep disappearing." He remarked as he ran a hand over it. "Now the only question is, what are you up to?"

Back at the school, it was lunch time and the kids were busy with their food. Victor was sitting across from Monty, who pulled out a Tupperware, opening it up.

"So, what's on the menu today?" He asked.

"Cow tongue, red cabbage and horseradish!" Monty said, pulling out his sandwich with a look of delight on his face. "Mom, you picked a real winner today!"

"I swear, I have no idea how you can eat like you do and still not grow." Victor said with a little chuckle. Monty just held up a hand and pulled out a lab report, sliding it to Victor.

"Oh, I did your chemistry homework." Monty told him. Victor took a cursory glance at it and smiled.

"Nice!" He said, before slipping it into his bag. Sarah just let out a groan and rolled her eyes. "What a surprise, you have something to say!"

"Don't you get a little sick of coasting by on work that isn't yours?" Sarah asked him. Victor just shrugged.

"Hey, as long as I get into Princeton on that basketball scholarship, I'm good." He replied with an arrogant little smirk. "My dad's a legacy there. He was Sigma Tau, if I get there, I'll be on easy street."

"Aren't you even a little curious to see how you would do if you just gave your school work an honest shot?" She asked him. "What about you Monty? Why do you let him push you around like that? Aren't you sick of him getting by on your hard work?"

"He doesn't push me around, he's the only one that doesn't." Monty mumbled through a mouthful of his sandwich. He gulped it down, before reaching for his juice box. "I give him a helping hand."

"You do his work for him! It demeans the efforts of people like you and me that actually EARN our grades!" Sarah told him.

"So what? You going to rat me out to Principal Hastings?" Victor asked her.

"I should!" Sarah stated.

"I'll take that as a no then!" He answered high-fiving Monty. Sarah just shook her head and went back to her lunch, feeling like this was a lost cause. She wasn't the kind of person to taddle, not unless someone's actions put them or others in danger at least. Victor seemed to know that. "Oh, what now?"

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Prepare to be amazed by my latest and greatest act of daring!" Preston announced, beginning to unpack his latest trick. He had five disks of wood, one of which had a large, six inch steel nail sticking up through it. He also had five paper cups. "Now, if I could have someone verify that this nail is indeed real!"

He handed the nail block to Sarah, who touched it and nodded to verify it was indeed real. Preston took it back and put the cups over the disks so that there was no way to see which one had the nail in it. "Now, would someone like to mix these up for me?"

He turned his back, at which another student started mixing up the cups. When he turned back around, Preston lined the cups all in a row.

"Now, please remain completely silent. I need complete concentration while I use my mental powers to locate the nail." He told them. "Oh, and please...don't try this at...HOME!"

He brought his hand down hard and fast on one of the cups, crushing it. Everyone jumped, even Sarah looked nervous about this latest trick he was attempting.

"Uh...Preston, that is..." She closed her eyes tightly as he brought his hand down again, crushing another cup. She didn't hear any screams, so she felt like she could safely open her eyes and confirm that Preston hadn't managed to impale himself.

"Two down, two to go!" Preston stated, waving his hands above the remaining cups.

"Um...Preston? Maybe you should quit while you're ahead." Sarah suggested. Preston just smiled.

"Quit? Why would I do that?" Preston asked. "Why when I could go...DOUBLE OR NOTHING!"

He slammed down two hands at once, crushing two of the remaining cups, fortunately with no accompanying bloodshed. Preston stepped away, throwing away the cups.

"Oh come ON!" Victor called out. "Like any of us believe you'd really have the nerve to do that if there was any chance of you getting it wrong."

"If you don't believe me..."

"Well, I don't!" Victor said, swiping Preston's hand away. "I'll give you the head's up everyone, there never was a nail! Presto LAMO here palmed it when he put the cups over them."

"Victor, that's not how..."

"And I'll prove it too!" He announced, bringing his hand down.

"VICTOR NO!" Preston screamed. Unfortunately, he was way too late. It took a moment for Victor to register what had happened, but he just stared down in horror. Sarah brought her hands over her face staring, unable to look away. Victor lifted up his hand, which had the wood and the nail stuck to it, the nail having gone straight through his hand.

"Oh my God!" Monty screamed, grabbing Victor and ushering him away as he stared at his hand, making unintelligible noises that never quite made it into full screams. "What did you do?"

"I warned him that wasn't how the trick was done!" Preston protested as he went with them. Sarah realised that in their haste to leave, Victor had left his bag behind. She tried to pick it up, but ended up spilling some of the contents on the floor.

As she hurried to put the contents of his bag back inside, she noticed something odd. She found the Victor's chemistry lab report, but she also found another one!

"What the hell?" She asked, looking confused. "Why does Victor have two copies of the same lab report?"

A/N: Again, I won't always be able to do this, as I don't know a lot of tricks, but the passage beginning with a * is one of the methods by which the rabbit out of a hat trick is actually done. Oh, and I will explain the cup trick...and yes, Victor DID find out the hard way that there IS a VERY real nail involved so...yeah...don't try that!


	7. Driving Lessons

In another part of the school, Calvin was standing by the edge of a driving practice track, fidgeting nervously. Summer Cove High had a comprehensive Drivers Ed. Programme, and most of the kids got their licences through it. Living in California, where land space was rarely an issue and buildings tended to be a lot more spread out, combined with a questionable at best public transportation system meant that learning to drive was virtually a career necessity for the modern generation, almost as much as mathematics, computer skills and literacy were. It was just another reason that Calvin knew it was a good idea to learn to drive, but that didn't make him feel any less terrified about this.

He had loved cars and loved engines his whole life. His mom was a mechanic, and had a small business in her own garage where she would do repairs for the locals who couldn't go to a bigger chain. Mostly patch jobs and suchlike that would extend the life of their current car just a few more months.

She couldn't bring herself to be away from her son and pay a stranger to look after him while she was working, so he had virtually grown up in the garage, watching his mom working. While other kids were read fairy tales by their parents, a young Calvin would be put to sleep by the soothing sound of his mother explaining the finer points of the internal combustion engine. He had graduated to Meccano sets while most other kids were still working on Lego, and he was working on actual engines when most kids stopped playing with toys altogether. His mom would let him do small repairs and cleaning on components for a little extra pocket money.

When it came to driving though, that was where he had the real issue. The bizarre thing was, he was fine riding in a vehicle with others at the wheel. Hayley had driven him around even before they started dating. He understood that it was a phobia, that his fear was irrational. If anything, he was in MORE danger when someone else was behind the wheel. His safety and his fate were entirely in someone else's hands, but whenever he sat in the driver's seat, whenever he had his hands on the controls, all he could think about was that fateful day.

He had told his friends about it now, but the truth was he pieced most of what happened together after the event. He had been in a go-kart, having begged his parents to let him go to the track. After working on engines and seeing his mom work on engines so long, he had naturally wanted to start driving, to see them in action. However, the speed of the kart got away from him, and other, more experienced kids could see he was struggling and would "buzz" him, passing him incredibly closely to make him nervous. On one of these passes, he had panicked and ended up steering through a restraining wall that wasn't able to restrain him and he and the cart ended up in the nearby duck pond. The cart had flipped and landed on top of him trapping him beneath the surface of the water. He was under so long before his father and one of the attendants managed to get the cart off him and get him out, he had actually stopped breathing. He was lucky to be alive, but since then, whenever he got behind the wheel, he found it difficult to breathe, and he found himself imagining all the horrendous things that could happen to him.

"WOOO HOOO!" He heard Brody call out from the car on the track as he went past. The Red Ranger seemed to be having a much simpler time of this than he was. He was enthusiastic about learning to drive, but it didn't help him in the slightest. He could really live without seeing how easy Brody was finding this whole process.

"How is he learning so fast?" Calvin asked, seeing the way Brody flew around the course in the instruction car without a care in the world.

"Hey, Cal. Ease up." Hayley told him, nudging him gently. "It'll be fine."

"Hayls, I'm here aren't I?" He asked her.

"Yes, and so am I." She assured him.

"This is...this is a bad idea." Calvin said, beginning to make a move to leave. "I know the bust timetables, I can..."

"Tell you what; it's a four-seater. How about if I ride in the car with you?" She asked him. "Would that make you feel better?"

"Add another casualty maybe." Calvin grumbled.

"Hey, it's a sealed course..."

"So was the go-kart track!" He argued.

"Do you see a duck pond anywhere near here?" She asked him. "Cal, I'm sure you'll be fine. Just...give it a try alright?"

Just then, the car pulled up to the curb and Brody came out, smiling.

"That was EPIC!" He called out. "I think I'm about ready for..."

"Fail!" The instructor told him in somewhat broken English. "You go too fast, you no signal on turns, and you run stop sign."

"Oops." Brody said with a shrug. "Well, I guess that's what practice is for. You're up Cal."

Calvin gulped as the instructor showed him into the car. He noticed Hayley was about to get in too.

"One at a time." He told her. "You no drive..."

"Um...I already have a licence." Hayley told him. "I was just wondering if I could ride in the back for some moral support."

The instructor looked between them and just shrugged.

"No disturb Elena, she sleeping." He told her, gesturing to the back. Hayley opened the back door of the car and was surprised to see a cat lying curled up in the back seat. She took care not to disturb her as she got in and fastened her seatbelt. Calvin got into the car and started to go through his checks.

"Set mirrors, good, put seat to good position with knees slightly bent, good, seatbelt on, good. Now, gently pull out from curb."

Calvin started to move. However, as he started to move, the instructor just yelled something in his native language that caused Calvin to slam on the breaks and stall the car, throwing all of them forward.

"What is it? What did I do?" Calvin stammered.

"You no signal!" The man answered. "Signal when pull out from curb!"

"What the HELL!" Hayley yelled at him. "You even gave me a heart attack! Did you really need to call out like that?"

Calvin and the instructor looked to her, looking a little surprised, but just shrugged and turned back to what he was doing.

"Pull away." Instructor told him. "This time signal."

Calvin took a deep breath, before flipping on his turn signal and moving out.

In the nurse's office, the school nurse was taking a close, careful look at Victor's hand. Victor was looking decidedly pale as she checked it out. Preston was sitting a little way off, looking rather worried. In the same week, one of his tricks had caused a mass panic at the school, while another one had ended up with Victor impaling his hand. A second visit to the Principal's office in as many days was NOT going to go over well with his dad. Sarah was sitting in the corner, flipping through a report, reading it. The nurse turned Victor's hand over in hers, before sighing and starting to pack gauze around the nail penetrating his hand and starting to tape it in place.

"Well, that's a hospital job for sure." She told him. "I'll call someone to take you there."

"Aren't you going to pull it out?" Victor asked in horror. The nurse just looked at him.

"Right now the nail is sealing the wound, if I pull it out you start bleeding again." She explained to him. "I think I'll let the hospital deal with that."

"It's all his fault anyway!" Monty snapped, pointing at Preston in an accusatory way.

"MY fault!" Preston protested. "I told Victor not to touch it!"

"You tricked him with that...trick!" Monty protested, even when he couldn't think of a logical argument. "He couldn't have known there was really a nail there!"

"That's the point of the trick dumbass!" Sarah said in an exasperated tone.

"But...but...we were sure he palmed the nail..."

Preston reached to Victor's hand, going to the block of wood the nail was in. He pulled something off, showing it to them.

*"There's a small piece of fishing line taped to the base with the nail in it." He explained. "It's hardly visible to the audience, but when I see that, I always know where the nail is! I never take the nail off the table!"

"But...but...but Victor..."

"Victor was so intent on ruining Preston's show that he didn't stop to listen to Preston warning him about the fact it was dangerous!" Sarah told him. Just then, Principal Hastings came into the room.

"Mr Tien!" She addressed Preston, before gesturing with her finger for him to follow her. Preston gulped and followed her.

"I'm coming too!" Monty told her, gathering up his things. "Don't worry Victor; I'll make sure he pays!"

With that, the three of them left the room. The nurse finished wrapping up his hand, before shaking her head.

"I swear you kids get dumber every year." She commented, pulling off her gloves. "I'm going to bring around the car, and if you even THINK about bleeding on my upholstery, what happened to your hand is going to seem like a gentle hug!"

As she left, Victor sighed and looked to Sarah, who was sitting in the corner.

"Go ahead, you know you want to." He grumbled. Sarah just looked to him.

"Want to what?" She asked him.

"Gloat." Victor muttered. "I know you love seeing..."

"Hey, I might not like the way you treat people, and yes, I might like it when things backfire on you and you get taken down a peg or two, but if you think I like seeing people get hurt, you really don't know me at all."

"Really?" He asked her. "Even though I was messing with your friend..."

"Hey, I hate it when you mess with Preston's shows, but watching someone impale themselves is not my idea of a proportional punishment." She answered.

"I guess that's fair." He answered. "What are you reading anyway?"

"I'm reading your lab report." Sarah told him.

"You're not still banging on about that are you?" He asked. "So Monty does some of my homework, is that really such a big deal?"

"Oh, I didn't mean the one Monty wrote, I'm familiar with his work. He's the only one who can beat me on some of the assignments." She told him. "I was talking about the one you wrote."

"I need to re-do my reports to make sure no one knows I'm copying." Vince said with a shrug. "It would look a bit odd if all of my homework was handed in written in Monty's handwriting and identical to his."

"Oh, I was sure you'd have to do that. You'd also have to make a few mistakes to make sure no one got too suspicious when your scores are equal to Monty's." Sarah stated. "But re-writing the report would take you at least some time, and I saw Monty give you that report before...well...this happened. So the only two ways I can think of you being able to have another copy of the report this quickly was if you had someone else get you a copy too, or if you wrote it yourself."

She put the report down in front of him.

"You have no right to..."

"For what it's worth, it's pretty good work, I'd say it's a solid B+, which I think is about your average isn't it?" She asked, ignoring his protests. Victor just sighed and put the report away.

"I never hand in Monty's work." He told him. "It's like you said, what's the point getting him to do all my work? It's not like he'll always be there to do it for me."

"So why is he giving you homework at all?" Sarah asked him. "Why haven't you told him to stop?"

"Because...I don't have the heart to tell him to stop." Victor admitted. "I helped him out of a jam once, and we've been friends ever since. He kind of felt like he owed me so he started doing my homework. He feels like he owes me."

"So you used him..."

"Like I said, I've never handed in any of his work." Victor told him. "But after four years, it's kind of hard to convince him..."

"FOUR YEARS?" Sarah interrupted him, her eyebrows shooting up. "He's been doing your homework for four years? What the hell did you do, save his life?"

"Does it matter?" Victor asked her. "None of this is any of your business anyway, so unless you plan to turn me in to Principal Hastings for NOT cheating on my homework, can we just drop it."

Just then, the nurse came back in.

"Alright genius, time to go." She told him. Victor reached across, taking the lab report from Sarah and putting it in his bag before putting it over his shoulder.

"Alright, let's do this." Victor answered, before heading out with the nurse. Sarah sat alone in the office for a moment, curious about what she had just found out. Before, she had thought that Victor either forced or convinced Monty to do his homework to coast through High School. He was a superficial jerk who didn't care about whether or not he earned the qualifications that would one day land him a job that someone who had actually worked for the position would miss out on, but seeing his copy of the lab report, it looked like he was a pretty decent student in his own right. He only let Monty keep doing work for him out of some strange charity to Monty, who felt like he owed him. Could she really have been so wrong about him? Was there more to Victor Vincent than she knew?

Back at the Driver's Ed. Course, Calvin was finding the whole experience a lot more terrifying than he had originally believed. The car just seemed to move so fast when he was in the driver's seat compared to sitting in the passenger's seat. He knew it was perception, but it was almost as though as soon as he was aware of something he was practically on top of it.

"You run red light!" The instructor told him. Calvin just groaned, realising that this was either the fifth of sixth serious error he'd made, errors that would instantly fail him on a driving test. "Gear change work better with clutch, you try to wreck car?"

Calvin could hardly keep up. As soon as he was dealing with one thing, it seemed like another thing needed to be done right now! It was like the world's most complicated busy box, but with potentially deadly consequences.

"You no put on turn signal." The instructor told him. "Speed up."

"Speed up; slow down, will you make up your mind?" Calvin lashed out. The instructor just glared at him.

"Concentrate on road, not me." He told him. "STOP!"

Calvin looked up in time to see a wooden board, on which a school bus was painted moving out in front of him. He hit the brakes, throwing everyone in the car forward, but still too late and he hit the board. Just for good measure, the engine stalled. Calvin leaned back and his eyes rolled back in his head.

"Congratulations, you hit bus, everyone on board dead." The instructor stated.

"Don't you think you're exaggerating just a little?" Hayley asked, rubbing her neck. The instructor turned in his seat to glare at her.

"Boyfriend hit bus." He reiterated. "He dead, you dead, me dead, Elena..."

He noticed that the back seat next to Hayley was empty.

"Where Elena?" He snapped. He started grumbling and speaking in a language Calvin didn't recognise.

"Look under the seat genius." Hayley heard a voice say. She shook her head, she was hoping the voices were going away, but here she was, hearing another voice that didn't belong to anyone in the car. The only thing she did know was that these voices had never led her wrong. She started to look under the front seat. "The OTHER seat!"

Hayley reached under the seat opposite her and carefully dislodged the cat from there, beginning to make soothing sounds at it.

"Good, at least one of you can take simple directions." The voice said again. The instructor reached back, grabbing the cat.

"Both of you, get out!" He barked at them. Both Calvin and Hayley got out of the car, before slamming the doors shut. "You menace on road!"

"You're...you're right." Calvin muttered morosely as he looked to the ground. Hayley was starting to get impatient, especially seeing him being attacked by his instructor.

"And YOU are meant to be a teacher!" Hayley yelled at him. "Maybe Calvin would respond a little better if you weren't constantly screaming at him!"

"Your boyfriend drive us into bus..."

"He drove us into a PLYWOOD SIGN!" She corrected him. "That's why you have a practice course, so he can make mistakes while he learns without putting anyone in..."

Calvin had heard enough and stormed off. Hayley just sighed.

"Cal, wait up." She told him. "CAL!"

"Good Riddance." The instructor grumbled in response. Hayley turned back to him, an enraged look on her face.

"Don't worry, I'll teach him myself if I have to!" She snapped. "Asshole!"

As she ran to catch up with the Yellow Ranger, the instructor held his cat closely and started stroking it, whispering to her in a comforting way.


	8. Stand-in Daddy

Preston was sitting in Principal Hasting's office, awaiting what was to come. While he wasn't a kid that went out of his way to cause trouble, he had ended up in the Principal's office a few times over the years, mostly as a result of when his tricks had gotten a little out of hand. He had spent more than a few afternoons clapping chalk dusters and writing lines. He'd even stayed behind a few nights to help the janitor clean up when some of his tricks had caused a mess or some minor damage, but this was significantly worse.

In the last two days, Preston's tricks had managed to cause a mass panic that had made headlines and caused an evacuation of the school, and now...now a student had actually been hurt as a result of one of his tricks.

Preston couldn't help feeling badly about Victor being hurt. Even though it was Victor's decision to slam his hand down on that nail in an attempt to ruin yet another one of his tricks, he couldn't help feeling ill just thinking about seeing him with that nail straight through his hand. He was also certain that a lot of other people wouldn't be happy. Victor didn't have 49 trophies in the school trophy cabinet for nothing. He was hoping for a basketball scholarship to go to Princeton, and the school had a big game coming up soon. He was sure the basketball team had to be steamed knowing that they'd have to do without their star forward for at least that game. The fact that Monty was pacing in the background was not helping his nerves in the slightest.

"Monty, what the hell are you even doing here?" Principal Hastings asked him.

"I'm here to make sure he gets what he deserves!" Monty sneered, pointing at Preston. "I saw the whole thing! He..."

"So you're here as a witness?" She asked.

"I'm here to make sure that he gets more than a slap on the wrist for crippling Victor!" Monty protested.

"Well, I've already heard accounts, so I really don't think we need..."

"So is this going to be another white-wash like his other tricks?" Monty demanded. "If his surname wasn't Tien he'd already be getting escorted off the premises and you know it!"

Preston didn't like to hear this, mainly because he knew that it was at least partly true. Mr Tien donated a lot of money to the school, and he all but owned all the local suppliers that the school used for everything from their stationery to the food in their canteen. If he was happy, things went well. If he wasn't he could easily make things very difficult for the school, something they were always aware of when dealing with Preston.

"Monty, when you've gotten your teaching and education administration qualifications and worked in education for ten years and been given a Principal's position, maybe then you can tell me how you would run a school, even then you wouldn't be teaching me how to run mine!" Principal Hastings warned him.

"The school paper would just love to hear about this." Monty huffed, crossing his arms defiantly. "I am their headline reporter you know."

"Yes, I also know that participation in any school extra-curricular activities is purely at the discretion of the Principal." She reminded him.

"Oh, so silencing the press now?" He asked her. She just groaned and pointed to the corner.

"Fine, you can stay! Now just sit down and shut up!" She told him. Monty went to the corner and sat down. "So what? Are we just waiting for Mr Tien?"

"Something like that." Preston grumbled.

Meanwhile, at a local business park, Hayley pulled up into the parking lot with Calvin in the passenger's seat. He just looked across to her as she pulled on the parking brake.

"Hayley, what are we doing here?" He asked her.

"Practice." She told him. "Alright, get out, you're behind the wheel."

"Hayley..."

"Calvin, this is about as close to real streets as you can get without it being, you know, real streets." She told him. "There are marked lanes, junctions, and since my dad works in the factory here I happen to know that the late shift has already gone in so none of these cars will be going anywhere in the foreseeable future."

"Hayley, you saw what happened at the practice track!" He protested.

"Yes, and that just means maybe we go a little slower." She suggested. "Now you have a few streets...kind of...with no pedestrians and no traffic."

"Hayley..."

"You're in a parking lot so you'll be moving slowly anyway." She reminded him. "When Brody's teaching us new ninja moves, what does he do?"

"He shows us how it's done." He told her.

"Well, yes...but then he gets us to do it." Hayley reminded him. "He'll teach us to do it, over and over again slowly, then he'll teach us it in a kata, then he'll put it into a practice drill for us, and then he'll get us to introduce it into sparring."

Calvin just stared blankly at her.

"He gets us to perfect the procedure slowly, and then with practice, speed builds up over time." Hayley told him. "If you're trying to do everything when you're driving at speed, of course things are on top of you way too fast if you have to think about every step of the process. So first..."

"Figure out the procedure and practice it until I get that down." Calvin said as they switched over seats. "So where do we start?"

"With probably the most important move you will ever learn in driving." She answered.

"Wait...you're in the wrong seat." Hayley heard a voice behind her say. "Why are you in the wrong seat?" She looked around, trying to locate it, but couldn't find anything.

"Kody, get your head down a minute." She said, continuing to look around.

"What is it?" Calvin asked. She just shook her head.

"Um...yeah, the most important thing you'll need to know." She said. "How to get this thing to a full stop quickly if you need to."

"You mean an emergency stop?" He asked.

"Exactly!" She told him. "Now, just start driving, I'll take a look around and when I'm satisfied you're safe, I'll call out stop and I want you to press the brake hard, and the clutch down just as you're coming to a stop so the engine won't stall."

"Wait, he's driving?" The voice came again. "Oh man, I can't look!"

Hayley was a little rattled by this, but after looking around and finding that no one was there, she just looked to Calvin.

"Alright, start her up." She told him. "I'll tell you when to stop."

Up on the Warrior Dome, Madame Odious stepped out of her secret door, sealing it behind the false poster of Galvanax with a gesture and a password. She had a look around to ensure no one had seen her before she left.

Once she was out of sight, Wrench de-activated his cloaking device and headed over to the door, before pulling out a device, attaching it to the poster, and beginning to work on a hand-held computer.

"Hm...there's definitely something behind here, something a lot bigger than just a hidden executive bathroom." He told himself. "These security protocols...what are you hiding Odious?"

He started to type, working on the coding, all in the hopes of opening the door. Things were good on the Warrior Dome. Thanks to Cosmo, he now had the Chief Engineer position, a steady paycheck, perks and benefits, and more "interns" than he knew what to do with! The last thing he needed was Odious screwing it up for him now. If she was up to anything that would upset the power balance on the ship, then he wanted to know about it!

Back at the High School, Monty was becoming restless, drumming his foot against the floor as they waited for the disciplinary hearing to begin.

"Monty, kindly stop that." Principal Hastings told him.

"This is ridiculous, how long are we meant to..."

Just then, the door opened and a man walked in. He was dark-skinned and about six foot eight, with a bald head, and a large, corpulent frame that was enveloped by an expensive, tailored suit.

"Sorry I'm late." He stated in a somewhat soothing baritone voice. He shook Principal Hasting's hand before looking around for a seat. Monty just looked between the man and Preston a little judgementally.

"Is this...Mr Tien?" He asked.

"Does he LOOK like my dad?" Preston asked him, rolling his eyes. "This is my stand-in dad."

"Mr Bartholomew, a pleasure as always." Principal Hastings said more in a tone that indicated this was more of a formality than any kind of pleasantry.

"Mr Tien has charged me with his authority in this hearing, and he wanted me to assure you he intends to deal with Preston very fairly, but firmly." Mr Bartholomew stated.

"Wait...Bartholomew...as in Bartholomew Morris & Hitchcock?" Monty asked, his mouth hanging open wide. "Your dad sent one of the city's top lawyers to a parent/teacher conference?"

"Mr Tien is a very busy man. Sometimes he needs someone to deal with matters for him." Mr Bartholomew said, before turning his attention back to Principal Hastings. "With all due respect, does this young man need to be here?"

"He's a witness to the incident." She told him, before beginning. "Alright Preston, why don't you tell us a little about the trick you were performing?"

"It's a variation on the cup game, where instead of finding a ball, the objective is to avoid the nail." Preston explained to them, setting up the leftovers from his earlier show which were sitting on Principal Hastings' desk. "Each of these wooden bases is empty, while one has a nail in it. The idea is when they're covered by cups; you can't see which one has the nail in it. So, then I get someone to mix them up and then I...smash my hand down on the cups."

"It's a completely irresponsible..."

"Is anyone else involved in the trick?" Mr Bartholomew asked. Preston just shrugged.

"The person who mixes the cups is an audience member chosen at random, but other than that, it's only me that participates in the illusion." Preston explained.

"And Victor mixed the cups." Mr Bartholomew asked him.

"Well...no, Sarah did." Preston answered.

"Did you ask Mr Vincent to be involved in the trick?" Mr Bartholomew asked him.

"No, I didn't!" Preston stated. "I told him not to touch the cup!"

"You've got to be kidding!" Monty shrieked. "This is...this is ridiculous!"

"Did you or did you not warn people about the dangers involved in your trick?" Mr Bartholomew asked.

"I...I did warn that this trick was dangerous." Preston told him.

"Then it seems like Mr Vincent's injury is more down to misadventure than any action on my client's behalf." Mr Bartholomew stated with authority. "If anything, all Mr Tien here can be accused of is being careless in allowing students close enough to his trick to interact with it. Since he warned Mr Vincent specifically about the trick and didn't ask him to participate, he can hardly be held responsible for Mr Vincent's lack of judgement."

"Oh come ON!" Monty shrieked. "He...he brought a freaking lawyer to a parent/teacher conference?"

"This isn't the first time one of Mr Tien's tricks has caused serious problems." Principal Hastings reminded him. "I believe you read the newspapers..."

"I did, and I have to agree that something should be done to curtail such incidents in future." Mr Bartholomew agreed.

"Alright Preston, with immediate effect, you'll no longer be allowed to perform magic on school grounds..."

Mr Bartholomew interrupted her with a couch.

"I think that may be taking things a little too far." Mr Bartholomew interjected. "My client would prefer that his son not have his impeccable disciplinary record tarnished over what could be argued to be down to another student's lack of judgement."

"Oh?" Principal Hastings asked, looking decidedly less than happy.

"I believe that the two shows that caused problems were performed in the school canteen. Perhaps this isn't the best environment for something that requires the precision and preparation of his illusions." Mr Bartholomew suggested. "Perhaps if it is agreed that shows within the school that are not sanctioned by you, the Principal, are no longer permitted that would be more appropriate."

"But...but Victor...Victor ended up blinded by his dragon costume OUTSIDE the school!" Monty protested.

"An incident I believe was caused once again by Mr Vincent's own misadventures." Mr Bartholomew answered. "I heard it had something to do with the use of a hoverboard he had no experience or knowledge of how to ride?"

"Preston is also already serving a period of detention, so this has to be factored into his punishment. He will also be suspended..."

Mr Bartholomew just coughed again. Principal Hastings just rolled her eyes.

"Really?" She asked.

"I don't think denying a gifted student education helps anyone." Mr Bartholomew told her. "Oh...while I was here, Mr Tien also wanted me to forward you his latest donation to the school."

He handed Principal Hastings and envelope.

"Mr Bartholomew..."

"He also wanted me to remind you that the new computer lab he's building is looking like it might be going a little over budget." Mr Bartholomew added in a decidedly less than subtle way. "It would be a shame if he had to pull out and leave it incomplete."

"I suppose we could always just extend Preston's detention by another week." Principal Hastings sighed. Mr Bartholomew smiled and shook her hand.

"Thank you for a very productive meeting." He declared as he got up from his seat. "Preston, your father will see you at home."

As he left, Monty just gasped in amazement and started flailing wildly. Preston and Principal Hastings though seemed a lot more subdued, like this wasn't an unfamiliar dance for them.

"That...that is...BULLSHIT!" Monty screeched.

"Monty! Language!" Principal Hastings warned him.

"You're going to talk to me about language when you just...just got bought off?" He screamed. Principal Hastings by now had heard enough and got up from her desk. "Someone's going to pay for..."

"You're right Monty, someone's going to pay! YOU!" She snapped at him. "Congratulations! Between disrespecting your principal and your language, you just earned yourself a fortnight in detention!"

"He only got a week for unleashing a panther!" Monty complained.

"A FAKE panther!" She yelled. "Want to make it a month?"

Monty realised this was a fight he wasn't going to win and immediately went silent. Principal Hastings just pointed to the door, indicating that it was time for both of them to leave. Preston and Monty just got up and left the room, at which she kicked the waste paper basket across the room in frustration, before sitting back at her desk, her head in her hands in frustration.

"Arrogant prick!" She muttered.

Outside the office, Preston looked far more miserable than someone who had only walked away with a week's detention for an offence most would probably have been at least suspended, possibly expelled for. Monty grabbed him and spun him around.

"I bet you're feeling pretty good about this aren't you?" He demanded.

"Yeah Monty, this is so how I wanted this to go!" Preston answered sarcastically.

"Wait until I tell everyone you've as good as got Hastings in your back pocket!" He hissed angrily. "How do you think everyone's going to like you when they find out your dad has her bought and paid for?"

"You know what Monty? Go ahead!" Preston responded, shoving him away. "You're going to tell them what you want anyway, so be my guest!"

Preston stormed away, fuming about the whole thing. He didn't mean for Victor to get hurt, but it wasn't at all unlike his dad to throw money at his problems to make them go away. Most of the kids at school no doubt assumed that Preston was just the same way. All things considered, he was beginning to think he'd have preferred to be suspended.

Back on the Warrior Dome, Wrench was struggling with the coding on the security door when he finally got a break. He heard some locking mechanisms trigger and the door slid upwards.

Unfortunately, before he could congratulate himself too much, he heard Madame Odious' voice. He hurriedly closed the door and retreated into a corner, activating his cloaking device just in time as she arrived with a couple of Kudabots.

Stopping before it, she waved her device and spoke her incantation, causing the door to slide open, before checking once more to ensure she was "alone", before heading inside. The door closed behind her, at which Wrench deactivated his cloaking device, pondering the secrets that lay within.

"Whatever you've got cooking in there, it has to be big if you've managed to convince even Cosmo that this place doesn't exist." Wrench commented to himself, running his fingers over the poster. "Of course I can't exactly go poking around if you're in there. I'm going to need...a distraction."

Just then, Cosmo came around the corner.

"Wrench my boy! I've been looking all over for you!" He declared. "The network went completely cuckoo after the last episode! I've got to think of something big to keep the momentum going, and they've scheduled a conference call in my office in half an hour. I hate these things; it's always a bunch of clueless executive types spouting off half-baked ideas."

"I was just thinking...maybe the next monster should be something from Odious' stable." Wrench suggested, a thought beginning to form in his mind.

"Odious? Why would...?"

"She just had her champion injured on camera in a mis-timed match, one he hadn't had time to prepare for." Wrench said, hurriedly putting some thoughts into action. "Perhaps featuring one of her contracted talent could appease her a little over Galvanax's unfortunate wounding."

"Hmm...you might have a point there." Cosmo said, rubbing his chin. "I also hear that creepy things are in right now. Odious does like her creepy types. I wonder if that spider thing of hers is match fit? Good thinking Wrench!"

As he left, Wrench just dusted off his hands.

"And while she's concentrating on her talent, I'll be able to figure out what she's up to." Wrench answered. "I worked damn hard to get here, and I'm damned if I'm going to let anyone screw with that now!"


	9. Network Headaches

Cosmo was in his office, waiting for the conference call from the network. He always hated these things. It was nothing more than a bunch of special interests and corporate shills sticking their noses where they didn't belong and they weren't needed. Cosmo alone understood the artistic and financial masterpiece of entertainment he had created from the ground up with Galaxy Warriors, and there was little if anything that anyone could teach him about how to gain and keep an audience considering the fact he had been consistently the most popular show in the universe by a significant margin.

Still, even Cosmo had people he needed to lend an ear to. He was only broadcast as long as networks were willing to broadcast. A sizeable chunk of his revenue came from advertising and sponsors, and so he had to appease them by working their messages into his shows in a way that showed them in a good light, or just as good, their competitors in a BAD light. A Kudabot came into the room, carrying a bottle of brandy and a glass, pouring one for him.

"Leave the bottle." He muttered as the phone started ringing. "I have a feeling I'm going to need it."

The Kudabot did as it was told, leaving Cosmo alone as he activated the conference phone in his desk, crossing his feet up on the desk as he leant back in his chair, taking a sip of his brandy.

"You're go for Cosmo Royale, entertainer, entrepreneur, and showman extraordinaire!" He announced, lighting up a cigar.

"You've been ducking our calls Cosmo!" Someone greeted him gruffly. "We've been trying to schedule this for..."

"I'm sorry, who is this?" He asked.

"Karo, CEO of Karo..."

"Karo Military Supplies Enterprises." Cosmo said, pulling up his name on a computer. He scrolled through some files to find out more about him.

"Yes, one of your sponsors..."

"Who contributes precisely 0.000003 percent of our revenue which means I really don't care who you are." Cosmo stated.

"I've never been so insulted...!"

"Then you clearly haven't gotten out much." Cosmo interrupted him. "Your contribution rated against the value of our show works out as approximately 3 second of my time which has already expired, so...new rule, you don't talk anymore! Begone!"

"Mr Royale." Another voice said. This one was a voice he did want to listen to; this was Reinhardt, one of the network CEOs that carried his show. "We are thoroughly delighted with your show as usual. It is bringing in a tremendous amount of viewers as usual..."

"Yes, of course, and believe me I never tire of hearing it." Cosmo said, taking a long drag of his cigar.

"Yes, but...we've gotten some letters of concerns from some special interest groups that have us a little concerned." He continued.

"Oh, do tell." Cosmo replied, feigning interest.

"Well, not to put too fine a point on it...some are a little concerned about the graphic nature of the violence on your show." Reinhardt stated.

"Violence?" Cosmo asked.

"Well...some examples that have been cited...the ruler of the Lion Galaxy was seen being torn in half, a Mercurian was frozen with liquid nitrogen and shattered, and as recently as this week, the champion Galvanax had a sword rammed through his shoulder." Reinhardt read out. Cosmo just looked to the conference phone, imagining the man on the other end wearing a bright red clown nose and rainbow wig.

"They ARE aware it's LITERALLY a show about monsters fighting right?" He asked.

In the Shop Class, Mick had been careful to ensure all of the students had left before inviting Redbot out to look at something with him. The robot was always keen to get out of the base and do some exploring. While there were enough secret entrances through Mick's eccentric ways and obsession for over-engineering everything he touched that they had no worries about Redbot getting in and out without being seen, but since he couldn't be seen, he could only really explore the woods around the city. It was just as well he liked nature, but it did mean he had so much still to see that he knew he couldn't because of the dangers it presented.

"Sizzling circuits, I see why you like this place so much!" Redbot commented as he looked around. "This really does look like one of your young's toy boxes."

"Mhmm..." Mick said, only half listening to Redbot as he considered something. Redbot came over.

"What is it Mick?" He asked.

"Tell me what you think of this bike." Mick said, pointing to a bike in the corner. Redbot took a quick look at it, giving it a cursory glance.

"It's quite a remarkable project...inspired even." Redbot concluded.

"One kid took three junker motor cycles and managed to throw this together." Mick told him. Redbot started to perform a closer scan of the bike.

"I'd almost swear this was a brand new bike." Redbot declared. "Some of the parts are almost completely constructed from scratch."

"Calvin made this." Mick told him. Redbot just looked up to him.

"Well I certainly hope you're giving him an A for this." He answered.

"Redbot, I've seen Calvin's work first hand on Nitro. It's good, certainly far better than I'd expect for...you know...and Earthling of his age." Mick told him. "Even with access to better parts and tools I'd expect a bump in performance, but this...This is the kind of thing I'd expect from a university student."

"He's really that good?" Redbot asked. "I might just have him look at this creaking ankle joint I've had..."

"Redbot, his skills in mechanics have jumped a significant way in a very short period of time." Mick told him. "Like...about a decade of ability in around a fortnight?"

"You mean...?"

"It looks like it." Mick stated. "I think we can safely say Calvin's been affected by the Ninja Steel."

"That could be a huge asset to the team." Redbot said as he thought about it. "Who knows, he may end up as good as you."

"Please, no one's as good as me." Mick replied, waving him off as Redbot headed back towards the Paint Room.

Back in his office, Cosmo was pacing the room, his ire beginning to grow with the increasingly ridiculous and inane thoughts and suggestions from his backers. Right now, he was listening to some comments from a broadcaster based on customer surveys he had done.

"So, the thing is...we were wondering about the educational value of your show..."

"I'd say it's very educational." Cosmo interrupted him. "Galvanax once tore off both of his opponent's arms and beat him to death with them. I'm perfectly certain I've never heard of anyone else allowing that to happen to them."

"Well...it's more the KIND of things you're teaching people. In particular, we're a little worried about diversity in your show." Another of the faceless talking heads he really couldn't be fussed to learn the names of chimed in.

"Diversity?" He asked. "I have monsters from literally every system in the universe on my show, what could be more diverse than that?"

"It's just that you had a Yukari on your show once who was dressed in purple." He responded. "The Yukari are purple."

"And?" Cosmo asked.

"You also had a Drecai on the show, who was dressed in red." He continued. "And the Drecai are..."

"Yes, the Drecai are red." Cosmo stated. "Is this really what people are offended by? Tell me...is it an entry requirement that all the people you poll morons?"

Elsewhere on the Warrior Dome, Wrench found Madame Odious wandering the corridor. He could see she was once again heading for her secret room, only this time she was on her own. Since he couldn't find the Kudabots that she had with her before, he presumed that she would just take a couple as needed and then erase their immediate memory in order to ensure secrecy. It was one of the drawbacks to mechanical cohorts; at least the viviks couldn't really have their memories erased...even if it was a little difficult to understand them sometimes.

He approached her as she stopped by the poster, tapping her on the shoulder before she was able to take her cursory look for pursuers. Seeing him, she grabbed him and shoved him against the wall, pulling out something that looked a lot like a hammer and raised it high.

"YOU!" She barked, glaring at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I was sent to find you!" Wrench told her. "I was talking to Cosmo and he was considering using someone from your stable in the next show."

"WHAT?" She snapped.

"He wants to use one of your fighters." Wrench explained again. Odious had to think for a minute to process this. She was so wrapped up in her latest project that she had almost forgotten all about her managerial duties. A number of fighters left the negotiations for their contracts to her, in exchange for a twenty percent cut. It was a distraction right now, she wanted to concentrate on her secret project, but even she knew that she needed to pay the bills. She put the hammer away and released Wrench.

"What did he say exactly?" She asked him.

"He said he wants something creepy." Wrench told her. "He said creepy is in right now."

"Creepy hmm..." She said, stroking her chin thoughtfully for a moment. "I think I know just the creepy crawly he might be looking for. Leave it with me; I just need to find where he's stuffing his face."

As she left, Wrench waited a few minutes to ensure that she was gone, before attaching his device and typing in a few keys. The door opened and Wrench stepped inside.

Back in his office, Cosmo was steadily draining his bottle of brandy, all while listening to the conference phone, imagining all sorts of delightfully painful murder scenarios he could inflict on his tormentors.

"So, did you get my report on the suggestions I made?" One of the talking heads asked him.

"Oh yes, I certainly did." Cosmo stated, tearing off a sheet of it, making a paper aeroplane with it. "You can rest assured; I am giving it nothing but the utmost of my attention."

With that, he tossed the plane through a candle, where it caught light and glided to the floor. Cosmo pumped a fist into the air.

"I was just wondering if you'd like to comment on the complaints I heard from the Ninninjer Galaxy about the last Galvanax episode." He started.

"Yes...yes...that one was most...um...interesting." Cosmo said, trying to find a way to coax the details out without letting on he hadn't read the report beyond the first few lines when he had determined it was far too stupid to concern him with.

"In particular they were concerned about Lord Galvanax's kiai." He commented. "They said that it sounds a lot like curse words in their language and they were concerned that people would think he was swearing. Could you have a word with him about that?"

"Tell you what, Galvanax loves meeting fans, I'll happily arrange a meeting and you can discuss the matter with him yourself." Cosmo suggested. "Let me know how that works out will you?"

"Mr Royale, I'm not sure you're taking this entirely seriously." Another of the talking heads said.

"Oh, when it comes to matters relating to my business, I always take things seriously." Cosmo said as he took the report and started to mime wiping his ass with it. "You can rest assured I'm considering each and every one of your comments with an open mind."

"Well, I thought it was interesting that a few of your viewers were concerned that Galvanax seems to scowl a lot when he's fighting." The talking head continued.

"Well, strictly speaking it's a helmet, but do go on." Cosmo told him.

"Well...they say it makes him look a little mean, kind of aggressive." He carried on. "They were wondering if he could perhaps smile a little more."

"But you were concerned with the violence in the show." Cosmo remembered.

"Yes."

"And so you want him now to smile while he's fighting."

"Yes."

"So he'll look like he's ENJOYING the violence." Cosmo concluded. "And you don't at all see how that's completely contradictory to your previous message."

"Mr Royale..."

"Sir, you are a moron, kindly stop talking." Cosmo told him.

"Mr Royale..."

"In fact, I think I've had my fill of stupid for the day. If you'll excuse me gentlemen, I have a show to run!" With that, he cut off the line, literally severing the cable with a sword, before sweeping the phone off the table, where it smashed against the wall. A Kudabot came into the room.

"Clean that up would you?" Cosmo asked, making his way out of the room. "I need to see what Odious has in mind for my next show."

Down on Earth, Hayley pulled up into Calvin's driveway and pulled on the parking brake before killing the engine. She took the keys from the ignition and smiled.

"Just think, not too long from now you might be able to do this yourself." She commended him. "Then I won't have to drive from school to your house and still have to walk to mine."

"Hayley, you live just down the street." Calvin reminded her. "I can see your house from here."

"Yeah, well...just think, you'll be able to take Nitro out all by yourself." She told him. "You could even come and pick me up for school."

"Yeah, maybe if I ever end up driving faster than three miles an hour." Calvin grumbled.

"We all start somewhere Cal." She giggled. "When I took my first lesson my dad wouldn't speak to me for a week because of how much I'd scared him."

"Really? Your dad's so chill though." Calvin responded.

"Yeah...he wasn't that day." She admitted. She reached across, cradling his face. "I love you Calvin. You can do this, I know you can."

With that, she leaned across, kissing him softly.

"Aw man, why do you have to do that in front of me all the time?" She heard a voice say.

"Will you just shut UP!" Hayley called out, looking around. She couldn't see anyone, just like before...only now she could see that Calvin was looking at her.

"Hayley, who are you talking to?" He asked her. She looked decidedly worried.

"I thought I heard..." She gulped as she realised what she was about to say, seeing her boyfriend looking at her out of concern. She was about to tell her boyfriend she was hearing voices that no one else did. She just shook her head. "It's...it's nothing."

"Hayley..."

"Come on Kody." She said, opening the back and letting Kody get out.

"Hayley, what is it?" Calvin asked her.

"Cal, I'm fine!" She called back.

Calvin watched her go, running his hands through his hair. He didn't know what was going on with Hayley, but the one thing he was confident about was that she was not as 'fine' as she was trying and failing spectacularly to make him believe she was.

Up on the Warrior Dome, Wrench went through a corridor, finding himself in a section of the ship he didn't even know existed. It opened out into a lab that was in many ways impressive, though he felt a chill to witness it. While his science did include biology, his main areas were chemistry and physics, but looking at Odious' lab, it seemed that her experiments were more in the wheelhouse of dissection, vivisection and other things too unspeakable even for him to contemplate.

He looked around at some of the machines, and could tell they were for performing experiments on living creatures. Though seeing some of the specimens she had in various stages of her experiments and in preservatives, he had to wonder if what they had could even be called a life. Most of them, he imagined, would thank him for pulling the plug.

He stopped as he heard a grunt, and turned to see where it came from, but when he saw that it was one of her experiments, and it was restrained, he satisfied himself he was in no danger.

He approached slowly, this specimen was decidedly different. For one thing, it appeared this specimen was being kept pretty much intact, and for another, it was a human. He couldn't see who, he had some kind of strange helmet over his head, concealing his face, and the wires coming from it gave him the impression it wasn't just a fancy blindfold. He approached the stranger, who was jerking around. At first he thought he might be experiencing electric shocks, but the movements weren't erratic enough. It was more like he was seeing and hearing things that deeply traumatised him.

"Now who are you?" Wrench asked, though he doubted even if the stranger could hear him he'd be able to form much of an answer. He noticed another human in the corner, though this one appeared to either be dead or unconscious. He approached this one, and noticed he was unrestrained, though he was connected to the same machine.

"What are you up to Odious?" Wrench asked. He got to the point he was face-to-face with the other stranger, when suddenly his eyes jerked open, startling Wrench. He let out a yelp and ran from the room as fast as his legs would carry him. The unrestrained human just smirked, and closed his eyes, returning to his inert state.


	10. Tangleweb

Madame Odious was trawling through the darkest and scummiest regions of the ship in search of her client. Not everyone who competed in the Warrior Dome lived the superstar lifestyle of flashy rooms and expensive dinners. Many had far more...humble tastes. She had heard that Cosmo was looking for something creepy, and the client she had in mind was as creepy as they came...and he had tastes to match.

The region she was venturing into was affectionately known as "The Sump." It was the least illustrious and lowest-grade areas on the ship. Low-level fighters that had yet to receive their big break, slaves that had been sold to the ship and criminals from numerous worlds that had been palmed off on Cosmo so that they no longer bothered their own systems generally made this place home. It was to all intents and purposes a slum. The corridors that made up the streets were filthy and constantly ran damp with the kind of foulness that didn't bear thinking about.

The habitation units were crumbling, and way below what many would consider habitable, with whole families being crammed into areas too small for even single accommodations in many cases, and the available businesses for the residents here tended to reflect the desperation and decay of the area. Pawn shops, shops selling various forms of substances designed to numb the senses against the harsh realities of the world they lived in, and bars where people took their lives in their hands simply walking in were the most common. This was no kind of place for anyone to live, and usually only the most desperate and those with no other options called this place home. Of course, the ones that were scariest were the ones that actively thrived here and made their homes here through choice. Some, like her client, actually LIKED living here!

She strode into a bar, stepping over someone who was lying unconscious, face-down in his own blood as a brawl went on around her. She ignored this, walking past everyone on her way to the bar. She had no thought nor care for what the issue was here, but she knew her client liked this place.

"I'm looking for Tangleweb." Madame Odious told the barman. The creature there just snorted, before coughing into a rag, which he then started to use to clean out a mug.

"Think I know that name?" He asked her. Odious just glanced to a wall, where Tangleweb's name had been written in what she sincerely hoped was only paint. It seemed like he had a lot of fans in this region. She turned her attention back to the barman.

"Tell him his manager is here to see him." Odious continued. The barman just shrugged.

"What makes you think he's been in here recently?" He asked. Odious just looked to a wall, where three creatures had been stuck to the wall with massive amounts of webbing, either because they had angered him or because he fully intended to come back and feed on them later. Given the fact that they were all still conscious and struggling suggested he had done this relatively recently.

"Believe me; I have as little desire to be in your...establishment as you do to have me here." Madame Odious told him. "Now, tell me where he is."

"You're his manager eh? So...you have money?" He asked. "What's in it for me?"

Odious just leaned across the bar.

"Tell me where he is, and I won't dissect you right here on this bar." She told him. He just gulped as he heard this.

"He's out back." He told her. "By the dumpsters."

"What's he doing out there?" She asked him.

"It's dinner time." The barman shrugged. Odious just made her way behind the bar and out the back door, into the alley behind.

There, the garbage was piled up high. There wasn't garbage pickup here so much as the garbage was left until someone got so desperate they started taking stuff to see if there was anything that was any use to them. The stench was foul, and the air was horrifyingly damp. Odious turned as she heard something in a darkened corner and saw her client hunched over, and could hear a small whooshing sound. The air around him shimmered slightly. Tangleweb's people didn't feed in the traditional sense. Their digestive system was more like a pocket dimension they could open a portal to and absorb material into, where it waited to be slowly digested into nutrients over time. It meant that they could "eat" things many times their size, and also things that strictly speaking weren't even edible. She approached just in time to see what looked like the feet of an unfortunate Kudabot disappearing into his portal.

"You know those are robots right?" She asked. "There's no meat inside."

"Aw man, I was hoping for tinned food!" Tangleweb grumbled. "What are you doing down here?"

"Today is your lucky day Tangleweb." She told him. "Come with me...we need to get you ready for the cameras."

The following morning, the Rangers had assembled at school early as usual, but instead of training, Sarah had suggested that they try something a little different. Knowing how nervous Calvin was about driving, Sarah had managed to borrow a couple of small bikes to give him and Brody a taste of something a little bit less intimidating than a solid ton and a half of metal.

Calvin was on his bike, going through all the controls and checks for the hundredth time, having still to pull away from the curb. Brody though was having the time of his life.

"WOO HOO!" He called out as he rode past them, popping a wheelie as he raced through the parking lot. Calvin looked almost ill seeing how quickly Brody was picking it up.

"How did he learn so fast?" He asked.

"Confidence is a big thing Calvin." Hayley reminded him. "But you might want to not show off so much!"

"Oh man, this is EPIC!" Brody called out, racing past again, this time standing on the saddle. None of this was making Calvin feel any better. Sarah just leaned across, turning the key in the ignition.

"Come on Cal, everyone learns at different speeds. I'm great with science, but it took me three tries to get my licence." She told him. "Now, just give it a try. Just pull back on the throttle just a little and try to keep her steady."

"OK, slow and steady...I think I can...WHOOOA!"

He rushed off, much faster than he expected. Sarah could see that Hayley was worried, but she grabbed the White Ranger.

"I decided to start him off on something small." She told him. "It's...it's basically a glorified bicycle. He can't go terribly fast on it, he shouldn't be able to cause any real..."

There was a huge crash, and they all turned to see Calvin somersaulting over a trash can, landing rather unceremoniously on a patch of grass. Sarah, Hayley and Preston all winced as they saw this.

"...damage." She concluded as they all broke out running, going over to check on him. By the time they got there, Calvin was already on his feet, and pulling off his helmet.

"Aw Cal..." Sarah started to say sympathetically, but the Yellow Ranger threw his helmet at the bike, before kicking it in a rage.

"That thing almost killed me!" He ranted at her, looking a lot angrier than Sarah could ever remember seeing him. Calvin was never a particularly angry guy, he didn't see much point in letting his temper get the best of him, but since he was already riding on fear, it was clear that there wasn't much separation between fear and anger. It was still a little scary for Sarah to see though.

"I...think you might be exaggerating just a little." Hayley told him, looking to the bike. Sarah was right; the engine was a small, battery powered thing that could only propel it about the speed of a pushbike. It was more of a toy than a real vehicle. It hadn't even hit the trash can fast enough to cause any real damage to either the bike or the trash can.

"It's easy for you to say, this stuff doesn't scare you." Calvin told her. "What if...what if I asked you to...wear a snake around your neck?"

"Don't even joke about that." Hayley said with a shudder, her skin crawling at the very mention of it. She had always hated snakes, ever since she had first laid eyes on one as a kid. The way they moved, the way they didn't seem to have any visible means of moving, the thought of them winding their way around their prey, slowly crushing it...it was all just chilled her to the bone to imagine.

"Maybe...maybe driving's just one of these things I'm not meant to learn." Calvin told her. "Maybe it's just not my thing."

"But Cal, you love cars so much. Hell, for a long time I thought you were totally crushing on Ace because you kept talking about that car of his." She told him.

"But you don't understand, that car is so sweet! He built it completely from scratch! The engine has..."

"Cal...you clearly love cars, that much is a given." She told him. "And I love you. If this is something I can do to help you with something you love, then I want to do it."

"But I'm just so scared..."

"And imagine how much better you'll be as a mechanic if you can drive cars and test them yourself." She reasoned with him. "You won't have to listen to me tell you how Nitro's steering pulls or the gear shift feels spongy...you'll be able to try it out and figure out what you're looking for yourself."

"But I'm just so..."

"Calvin Maxwell, I love you more than anything else in the world." She assured him. "I know if you put your mind to it, you can do this."

"Well, right now you're the only one with that confidence." She told her. "I'm going to change my clothes."

Up on the Warrior Dome, Cosmo was getting ready for his broadcast. He had been assured that Odious had found him a warrior to send against the Rangers, something creepy just like he had suggested, but she was cutting things fine to say the least. Only a few minutes before the broadcast was due to start, and there was no sign of the monster! He was starting to get antsy, and worried he'd have to find ways to stall for time.

"Cosmo..."

"Is your warrior here?" He demanded, cutting Odious off.

"Well...yes, yes he is, but there's a small problem." She told him.

"Well it'll have to wait, we're on now!" He shrieked, rushing out onto the stage, doing a little dance to get the audience's attention before she could explain. Odious just sighed as Tangleweb arrived.

"Did you...?"

"I don't feel so good." Tangleweb complained, holding his stomach.

"I thought you were going to take care of that!" She shrieked at him.

"But...I...I didn't..."

"Meet tonight's contestant, the Arachnid of your Nightmares, the Wizard of Webs, TANGLEWEB!" Cosmo called out, at which the music played.

"It's too late now, you've been introduced!" She told him.

"But...but..."

"Just get out there!" She called out, turning him around and kicking him in the back. Tangleweb staggered out onto the stage, clutching at his stomach. He looked up to Cosmo, who was looking at him and felt something gurgling up.

"Urp."

"What...what's going on?" He asked.

"I don't feel so good!" Tangleweb muttered. "I feel...urp..."

"Don't throw up here!" Cosmo screamed, backing away from him. "I just had this stage cleaned!"

Tangleweb doubled over and erupted, at which a Kudabot, struggling in a cocoon of webs landed on the stage. It struggled in its bonds. Cosmo looked to the Kudabot and then to Odious, who just shrugged.

"You asked for creepy!" She whispered.

"You ate a Kudabot? That's DISGUSTING!" Cosmo screamed. He was furious that he had been on stage with this creature when this happened, it was humiliating, it was...

That was when he noticed, the crowd...actually seemed to like it! Wrench had been right; the crowd WAS into the creepy aspect of this monster! While the thought of him eating a Kudabot disgusted Cosmo and almost made him ill, he couldn't deny that the crowd seemed to be into it.

"Now I'm hungry again!" Tangleweb declared. "Hungry for Power Rangers!"

"Well then, let's not keep you waiting! A growing boy needs to eat after all!" Cosmo said as he hit the teleport command on his console. "Go forth and feast, feast on the Power Rangers!"

Back at the school, Monty rushed to the door as Victor came in, his hand in a support sling, holding it up across his chest.

"Victor, you're back!" He called out.

"Of course, where else would I be?" Victor asked.

"But your hand..."

"Hey, I can type on my tablet with the other." Victor assured him. "Besides, I don't want to risk missing the school dance."

"Well you don't need to worry, I'll be here to help with anything you need, ANYTHING!" Monty told him.

"Thanks Monty." Victor said, taking off his bag and handing it to the smaller student. "Now, let's go find some ladies."

"Ladies?" Monty asked.

"Monty my good man, there's nothing the ladies love more than a wounded soldier with a few scars." Victor told him, putting his arm around his tiny friend. "They're also quite fond of those that look after them as well I've heard."

"You...you really think so?" Monty asked him.

"Stick with me Monty." Victor told him. "When have I ever steered you wrong?"

"S...s...s...spider!" Monty shrieked, leaping behind Victor. The larger student just looked to Monty, before looking down to the spider.

"Never fear, Victor Vincent is here." He declared, raising up his foot. "A little visit from Doctor Converse will do the trick here!"

As he brought it down though, it felt like he hit something solid, not just a spider. His foot stopped above the floor. He ended up being flipped onto his back as in a flash of light; the spider grew to full size, turning into Tangleweb. He had shrunk down in the hopes of searching the school for the Rangers without being seen.

"So, you like bullying things that are smaller than you hmm?" Tangleweb taunted him as Monty helped Victor back to his feet.

"I have to warn you...my hands...well...hand...is registered as a lethal weapon!" Victor said, waving his hand around in a series of wild chops, hoping to convince the creature he knew what he was doing. Instead, Tangleweb just grabbed them and dragged them both to some lockers.

"How about I show you what happens when a spider bullies back?" He cackled, shoving them both into lockers, before slamming shut the doors and webbing them shut. He looked around to ensure he wasn't seen, before shrinking down and continuing his search for the Rangers.

"The door...it's STUCK!" Victor called out. "We can't get out!"

"Oh man, this brings back memories." Monty muttered. "It's been so long since anyone stuck me in a locker. No one's done that since..."

"I know Monty." Victor commented. "So...this is what it was like?"

"Well...the lockers here are a little bigger, so it's not quite as bad." Monty answered.

"It's still pretty tight." Victor commented. "So what do we do here?"

"Well...there isn't much to do other than..." He started banging on the door. "HELP!"

Victor decided to join in, both of them banging on the locker doors and calling for help.

In the shop class, Sarah, Preston and Brody were waiting, when Hayley returned. She looked to them and shook her head sadly.

"Cal's gone to get changed." She told them. "He's taking it all kind of hard."

"I'm sorry Hayley; I thought this was a good idea." Sarah told her. "I remember I used to love mini-bikes. I just thought...maybe if it was more of a game..."

"I get it Sarah, but to him this isn't a game." She told her. "It's a phobia, it's an irrational fear. It wouldn't matter if he was driving a mini bike or a rocket powered super car."

"I was hoping next time we could get a ride on this thing." Brody said with a smile, looking at Calvin's project bike. "This thing looks epic!"

"Yeah, that's another thing Brody; can you try to keep a lid on the whole showing off thing?" Hayley asked him.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"You were standing on your saddle." Hayley reminded him. "Look, I get that you're excited, but this is something that Calvin's really struggling with."

"Yeah, confidence is a big issue in these things." Sarah agreed. "Maybe showing him how easy you're finding it isn't making him feel the best about things."

"But...I was just..."

"Brody, have you ever struggled to do figure out how to do something?" Preston asked him. "Watching someone showing off can be pretty frustrating when you're struggling."

"I guess you're right." Brody sighed. He didn't mean to rub it in Calvin's face, but he'd never had the chance to learn to drive or ride before. It was an exciting new adventure for him. For Calvin though, it was a major obstacle he had been unable to overcome, more terrifying to him than any of the monsters he had faced. "I'll try to be a little more restrained in future."

Just then, there was a flash of light and the Rangers all turned to see Tangleweb growing to full size in the corner of the room.

"Four out of five, not a full set, but close enough!" He cackled.

"Great, just what we need." Sarah muttered as they pulled out their morphers. "Ninja SPIN!"


	11. Calvin's Fear

Calvin was in the bathroom, changing his clothes after his accident on the mini bike. He wasn't one to be especially vain, but since he often tinkered with Nitro and worked on other engines purely for fun, he normally carried a change or two of clothes with him just to be on the safe side. On this occasion, it had worked out for him.

His clothes didn't appear to be too messed up, certainly not compared to what he was used to, just some minor grass stains, but also a more embarrassing stain that required them to be changed.

It wasn't his fault that he was terrified of driving. He knew virtually all there was to know about cars and all their safety features. The mini bike Sarah had given him to try out was a literal toy. They regularly sold and rented those things out to ten year olds to ride. He didn't have anything more serious wrong with him than a bruised ego after his spill. The impact hadn't even been fast enough to damage the bike, but that didn't mean he was alright.

His heart was still racing, and his chest still felt tight, giving him real trouble breathing. He could hardly stop shaking and he felt decidedly ill, and had almost thrown up a couple of times. He had also had other evacuations. He knew this feeling all too well, it was all part of the fight-or-flight response. His body was still riding on pure terror, trying to prepare itself best to confront danger or to run from it. Right now running seemed like the best approach. If he couldn't handle a toy that was meant for a ten year old, how did he ever expect to drive on a freeway where everyone was capable of hitting 55?

He left the cubicle after getting changed and started to wash his face. He thought about what had happened, and he knew he would have to apologise to Sarah. He had snapped at her, attacked her when she was only trying to help him. He had felt like she was mocking him, making fun of him for being so scared of something so simple that virtually everyone else his age could already do it, but he knew that wasn't the case. He knew that fear and anger were often pretty close, and that he had allowed his fear to get the better of him in that instance. He was sure Sarah wouldn't hold it against him, but he wasn't the kind of guy to just rely on his friends putting up with it any time he went on a strop because he was scared. Taking a deep breath, he shut off the tap and headed out to find his friends.

When he got into the hall, he could hear something happening outside. It was the unmistakable sound of a battle going on. He broke into a run, heading outside to find the Rangers locked in battle with a gigantic spider-like creature that had what he could only describe as an air conditioning unit strapped to its back.

Brody surged past it on Calvin's project bike, slicing it with his Ninja Sword. They had taken the fight outside so they could try to get their distance from other students, and almost as importantly, their base in the paint room.

"Hayley, tell Calvin this thing works great!" Brody said cheerfully as he skidded around for another pass.

"I am so sick of this eight-legged freak!" Sarah yelled as she fired a blast at it. "Preston, can you make him disappear?"

"Spider, Spider, in our way, have a faceful of my bug spray!" Preston called out, launching a mist towards his opponent. The monster staggered and spluttered as it was caught in a cloud of mist.

"You want to fight dirty? How about I turn you all into a snack?" Tangleweb screeched as he leapt into the air. Calvin and the other Rangers watched as he transformed into a massive version of his own face high up in the sky, before an incredible whirlwind kicked up, drawing everything that wasn't fixed down towards him. Calvin was far enough away that he could brace himself behind a wall, but the Rangers had to make do grabbing onto whatever they could get their hands on. Brody, who was still on the bike wasn't so lucky as he and the bike ended up being picked up by the whirlwind.

"BRODY!" Hayley called out, watching the Red Ranger tumbling through the air, disappearing into Tangleweb's face. Preston was the next to go, as his grip on the bench he was hanging onto failed him.

"I hate spiders!" He yelled as he was drawn up into the vortex.

"Sarah, if you have any bright ideas, this would be a REALLY good time!" Hayley commented as she felt her sword, which she had driven into the ground, starting to shift.

"A…really big bug swatter?" Sarah suggested weakly. It was too late though, as Hayley's sword came free, causing her to fly upwards, she hit Sarah on the way. Calvin could only watch helplessly as the last two Rangers disappeared into Tangleweb's waiting mouth. The monster changed form, becoming his regular size once more and appearing on the ground.

"HAYEY!" Calvin called out, breaking cover and running for Tangleweb. "Give me back my friends!"

He connected with a hard hit to the monster's gut, which clearly seemed to affect him. He looked like he was about to be ill. Tangleweb swiped Calvin away, throwing the Yellow Ranger aside where he landed in a heap on the floor.

"Ugh, serves me right for eating so much so quickly. I need to settle my stomach." Tangleweb stated. "I'm off for a nap Yellow Ranger, but don't worry, I'll be back to have you join your friends soon enough!"

With that, he disappeared in a flash of light. Calvin could only stare into the air.

"HAYLEY!" He called out as he sank to his knees. "Sarah, Preston, Brody!"

He knelt on the ground, overcome with the situation. He had only left his friends because of his stupid fear, because of his cowardice, now they were gone and he was alone. However, just as he was succumbing to despair, he could only think of Hayley, and the fact that he would rather be with her, even if it was in defeat, than to be left behind…

That was it! Left behind! Tangleweb had said it himself, he had left Calvin behind! He still had the Yellow Power Star! He didn't know exactly what Galvanax wanted them for, but he doubted he was the kind of guy that would be happy to accept a partially completed collection. Sooner or later Tangleweb would be back for him!

Getting up, Calvin ran for the base, knowing he had to make this time count. By the time Tangleweb came back for him, he'd be ready!

On the Warrior Dome, Galvanax, Ripcon and Madame Odious were watching the re-run of the battle on the big screen in Galvanax's throne room. Galvanax had looped the recording and watched it no less than six times already by the time Cosmo and Wrench came into the room. Wrench saw that Odious was there, and immediately slipped behind Cosmo, who was delighted as he approached the Champ.

"Four Rangers! Your monster's already taken care of four Rangers!" Galvanax declared in a delighted tone as he reached across to Odious, placing a hand on her shoulder. "This is why I hire you Odious; you're more than worth your twenty percent commission! You see that! THAT is how it's done!"

"I can't deny the results; the crowd seems to love the tension." Cosmo stated, pulling up some projections. "Having one Ranger in a desperate struggle to free the others...if we can get Tangleweb to pad out the fight a little, give us a little show before he hoovers him up, then we may have a bankable asset here!"

"So he captured some Rangers, big deal!" Ripcon scoffed.

"He's managed to do more to the Rangers than any of the opponents you've suggested." Madame Odious taunted Ripcon. "You see, unlike you I like to think a little further than the end of a sword. It doesn't matter HOW one wins, just so long as you win."

"Oh really, well there's still one Power Star completely unaccounted for!" Ripcon reminded her.

"Yes, and if we manage to defeat five Rangers, do we really think Tangleweb will have much difficulty against one Ranger on his own?" Galvanax asked him. "I'm starting to think you've gone soft Ripcon. Odious has managed more in one day than you've managed in weeks."

"Well...what's the point in winning if you can't achieve your main objective?" Ripcon asked her.

"What are you talking about?" She asked him.

"The Power Stars!" Ripcon snapped at her. "We're trying to get the Power Stars! Your useless monster just swallowed what we were fighting for all along!"

"There was a bit of a pause as this sank in. It was a good point, one none of them had really thought much about until now. They all turned to look at Madame Odious.

"Tangleweb will return them...uh...eventually." She told them. They all thought about this for a few moments, before Cosmo wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Wait, you mean you expect us to sift through his...ugh...that's your plan?" He screamed.

"He won't be able to digest them, we'll get them back." She stated. Ripcon pulled out one of his swords.

"Of course there is a way to get them out a little faster now isn't there?" He asked. Galvanax just laughed a little.

"Patience, wait until the meal is done." He told him. "We can split the piñata when it's full."

"It would require the loss of one of my contracted talents." Madame Odious commented with a shrug. "Of course I'm perfectly certain the show won't mind compensating me for that loss by buying out his remaining contract."

"Buying out...!" Cosmo was starting to shriek, before he looked to Galvanax, who just gave him a warning glare and gripped his naginata. Galvanax was also one of Odious' clients, and there was no way he would see her out of pocket...especially since that would ultimately mean HE would end up shouldering some of the costs. "...uh...yes...of course. If it comes to that, the show will find a way to ensure you aren't left out of pocket."

"Then it's settled." Galvanax answered. "How soon before we can send Tangleweb out again?"

"He's just settling his stomach, so we're running some messages from our sponsors." Cosmo told him. "By the time we've done that, he should be ready to slurp up the Yellow Ranger like well-cooked noodles!"

In the Ranger Base, Mick was spending some of his down-time between lessons to work on creating more throwing stars. He didn't exactly know when the Nexus Prism would activate to create more Power Stars, or how many would be created, but he always wanted to have a nice supply ready so that there would always be at least one prepared in case the Nexus Prism ever decided that now was the time for a new weapon in their arsenal. As he finished grinding one to a nice sharp edge, he took it out of the vice and inspected it.

"I am definitely getting batter ad making these throwing stars." He congratulated himself.

"It certainly looks like one of your best." Redbot declared. "Ooh, ooh, ooh, can I get to throw this one?"

"Well..."

"Oh come on, you've thrown all of them up until now! Can I throw just one?" Redbot pleaded with him. "I promise I'll be really careful."

"Redbot, it's not a matter of just wanting to throw it, the Nexus Prism has to be ready to make a Power Star." Mick reminded him. "It's not doing anything right now is it?"

"I suppose not." Redbot said miserably. "Aw, I never get to do anything fun these days."

"You can help me..."

"I got to help you all the time up on the Warrior Dome!" Redbot protested. Mick breathed a sigh and looked at him sympathetically. Redbot did have kind of a point. Of all of them, he had gained the least by escaping the ship. Because robots being seen walking around in the open on a regular basis was still some way off technologically for Earth, Redbot was pretty restricted in his newfound freedom. He had free run of the school while it was closed, and he could explore the nearby woods all he wanted, but most of the time he was cooped up in the paint room. Mick looked across, seeing some books that one of the Rangers had left behind. They had gained something of a bad habit of using spare space in the paint room as an extension of their lockers between classes. He picked up a book, looking at the title.

"Roald Dhal's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." He read aloud, before throwing it to Redbot. "Here, try reading that, see if you like that."

Redbot just shrugged and sat down to read, when Calvin came in, stumbling over the extractor fan as he came in. Mick could already see the urgency in his pace and could tell it wasn't good.

"Mick, a monster's got the others!" He rushed out. "Some big, hairy, creepy spider thing just sucked them up like a vacuum cleaner!"

"Mick! Calvin!" They heard Brody's voice calling out. They went to the communicator, seeing him on the screen.

"Brody, where are you?" Mick asked him.

"We're stuck...somewhere." Brody told him. "I can't see much, we're all tangled up in some kind of web. It's really strong; I can't reach my weapons to cut myself free."

"Hayley, can you see Hayley?" Calvin asked him.

"I'm...I'm fine Cal." She assured him.

"Guys, I'm so sorry...I should have been there!" Calvin said to them.

"If you'd been there, you'd be in here with us." Hayley assured him.

"No, I should have been there. I was only away from you because I was sulking..."

"Calvin, it's alright, really it is." Hayley told him. "You're out there now, you can help us."

"But how?" He asked her.

"Cal, I know you! I know you won't stop until you think of a way to get us out of this." She assured him. "Calvin, I believe in you. I...I lo..."

"Hayley!" He called out as the transmission broke up, slamming his hand into the monitor. "HAYLEY!"

"I can't get a signal." Mick replied sadly.

"This is all my fault!" Calvin stated, beginning to pace.

"Calvin, you couldn't have done anything." Mick told him.

"I could have at least tried!" Calvin yelled at him. "Instead I was hiding in the bathroom because I was scared of a battery-powered motorbike!"

"Calvin...I sincerely doubt your phobia is to blame for this." Mick commented.

"I should have been there, I should have..." He paused as he saw the Ninja Nexus Prism starting to glow. Before him, it started to shift, and he could see an image starting to form. He could see a room draped in webs, and his friends bound in the background, struggling to get out. However, that didn't seem to be focus of the image. Before them, he could see his project bike, the one he had been working on from junker motorcycles.

"That's my motorcycle." Calvin stated. "Why would the Ninja Nexus Prism show me that?"

"I don't know, but the Ninja Nexus Prism doesn't do anything without a reason." Mick told him. Calvin saw the throwing stars lying on the counter and picked one up.

"HEY!" Redbot protested, seeing this.

"Mick, I think I have an idea." Calvin told him. "How do you activate this into a Ninja Power Star?"

"You throw it!" Mick shouted, making a huge motion, before turning and pointing towards the Nexus Prism. "Into the Nexus Prism as hard as you can!"

"Alright, here goes." Calvin said, before drawing back his arm and throwing the star as hard as he could into the Nexus Prism. It started to glow and spin as the star disappeared inside it. Before long, it fired back at Calvin at high speed. The Yellow Ranger had to duck as it came at him, while Mick caught it.

"Whao!" He complained. "You never warned me about THAT part!"

"Oh...right." Mick said. "Sorry."

Calvin took the Power Star from Mick and looked to it.

"I think I know what I have to do with this Power Star." He told Mick, taking a deep breath. He stared at it for a moment, trying to summon up all his courage. It terrified him to know what he faced, but all he could think about was the fact that Hayley and his friends needed him. He had an idea what the Nexus Prism was showing him the bike for, but the only thing that terrified him more than trying to ride it was to think of losing Hayley when there was something, anything at all, he could do to get her back. "Thanks Mick."

With that, he sprinted out of the Ranger Base. As he did so, Mick watched him go and smiled, but he felt a prod in the shoulder. Turning around, he saw Redbot standing behind him.

"How come he gets to throw a Ninja Star and I don't?" He complained. Mick just sighed.

"Right...sorry." He commented. "The next one, I promise!"

"I'll hold you to that!" Redbot grumbled as he returned to reading his book.


	12. Calvin's New Ride

Wrench was making his way through the corridors, making some calculations on a handheld device as the residents of the Warrior Dome awaited Tangleweb steadying his stomach enough to prepare for round two.

Madame Odious had come up with a pretty masterful plan all things considered. Compared to the previous couple of monsters, she had managed to come up with one that had managed to take out four of the five Rangers, and leave them ripe for the picking. If Wrench was honest, were it not for the expectations of the audience, the best option would be to take Tangleweb out of the fight altogether, put him somewhere nice and safe under lock and key until he digested the five Rangers he had and they had "liberated" the Power Stars from him. Four out of five was a pretty good start, and would leave them with only one Ranger, one that as far as he could see was one of the weakest on the team, and only a single Power Star to face them.

He knew, however, that Cosmo would never be able to call off the remainder of the fight. The audience was waiting with baited breath to see if this was the end of their latest surrogate, the Rangers. They wanted to see if this was the monster that would take them down for the count, and they weren't willing to wait days or even weeks to get their answer. He was so deep in thought, he didn't notice he wasn't alone until a hand grabbed him and hauled him into a side room. He steadied himself as he was pressed against a wall and tried to get his bearings. Madame Odious was standing before him, smirking as she saw him.

"My my, such a busy little worker bee aren't we?" She asked him. "Cosmo's latest little pet project. Wrench isn't it?"

"Um...yes?" He managed to make out weakly, so nervous that he was having difficulty remembering his own name. Odious just smirked.

"You know, I've got to say, you may not have been here long, but already you've made such a name for yourself Wrench. Not many people ever make it out of their internships, never mind so quickly." She commented. "And look at you now, chief engineer. Cosmo must think really highly of you. It almost makes me wonder, apart from your engineering skills, what other skills do you have locked in that little head of yours?"

"Uh..."

"I mean, being good at your job is all well and good, but we all know it is those that expand beyond their roles that truly shine isn't it?" She asked him. "Take me for example. I'm a talent manager. I look after the interests of my signed talent, make sure I put them in the best positions, get them the best deals and ensure that they're always in the top position on the card."

She placed a hand on his chest and started running it across his breastplate.

"Of course, if that's ALL I did, then I'd never get anything like the prominence I do here." She told him. "I look after my talent of course, but I've always got my eye on the latest acquisition, on the next step...the Next Big Thing."

Wrench didn't answer; he was far too worried about the fact that as far as he could see they were on their own. No one could see him or come to help him. He could only think about his time in her lab. That human, the one he had believed to be dead, he had ran off when his eyes opened...had this human seen him? More importantly, if he had, what had he told Odious?

"I work on a number of side projects here." She told him. This had Wrench worried, was she confirming that she knew he had been in his lab? "Some of them pan out, others...not so much. I just don't feel it's worth bringing every little experiment, every little acquisition to the board room until I'm sure of its merit. Sometimes...it's best that some of these experiments remain...buried."

Wrench was internally screaming now! She knew! She had to know he had been in her secret lab! She drew closer to him, seeing that he was already weighing up if now was the time to run for his life.

"We all want what's for the best don't we?" She asked him. "For every one of my talent that makes it, I would estimate there are at least a thousand that Cosmo never even hears about. There's no need to bother him with every little detail. He's busy enough isn't he?"

Wrench just nodded furiously. She smirked, and gently tapped his cheek with her hand.

"So glad we understand each other." She told him. "Oh, and as much as I like the work ethic? Be a little more careful when walking around with that palm pilot. This ship can be a dangerous place. I'd hate to see our latest rising star end up somewhere he's not meant to be and something...unpleasant...happen."

Wrench just nodded and hurried off, under no false impressions as to what this was. This was a shake-down. Odious was most definitely up to something, and now she knew that she had seen her secret lab and what was in. Whatever she was up to had something to do with those humans he had seen in her lab, and whatever that was, if she was willing to sell out one of her own contracted talents to be dissected by Ripcon and Galvanax, what was she willing to do to protect her latest project?

Down on Earth, Tangleweb was wandering around some streets, clutching his stomach.

"I don't feel so good." He moaned. "I think I ate too fast."

"Hey!" Calvin called out as he arrived, standing before the monster. "You give me back my friends!"

"You again?" Tangleweb asked him. "How did you...?"

"An eight foot spider walking around town draws a little attention." Calvin replied, his Ninja Sword in his hand as he had his new Power Star secreted behind his back. He knew that the Nexus Prism was intending him to use the motor cycle, but he also knew that the bike was inside Tangleweb. He stood before him, levelling his sword at him. "You walked off without dessert!"

"What?" Tangleweb asked. "You want to be eaten?"

"I just want to help you work off some of that meal!" Calvin said, rushing for him, slamming his Power Star into place. "Element Star, Fire Slash!"

Inside Tangleweb, the Rangers were continuing to struggle, trying to find a way out of the webs. The biggest issue was that they were all bound so tightly none of them could reach their weapons to try and cut themselves free. Hayley looked to Calvin.

"I don't suppose you've reached the escapology section of your magic books yet have you?" She asked him. Preston shook his head.

"As far as I know no magician's written anything about escaping spider webs." He commented. "Spider webs...that's...I wonder if I could come up with something..."

"Preston, are you SERIOUSLY trying to think of magic tricks at a time like this?" Hayley asked him. "Sarah, did you learn anything in Amber Beach?"

"What?" She asked, becoming a little concerned. It wasn't REALLY lying, but she had never told her friends about the time she served supporting the Dino Charge team. She had indeed seen and taken part in some pretty bizarre situations.

"You were in Amber Beach when the monsters attacked there right?" Hayley asked. "Did anything like this ever happen there?"

"Sorry, no spiders." She answered, thinking back. "I once had a monster that switched bodies...and there was a monster that turned people to stone but...no spiders. Sorry."

"Great." Hayley grumbled. "Brody, if you have any fancy ninja tricks you've been saving for a rainy day, now would be a great time."

"I've been trying some muscle exercises that are meant to be able to let a ninja slide out of bonds." Brody told her.

"And?" She asked him.

"Um...no one taught them to me." He told her honestly. "It'll take me a while to figure them out. A lot longer than I think we have."

Just then, the room shook.

"What was that?" Brody asked.

There was another shake, this time accompanied by a cry of pain. Hayley smiled.

"Calvin!" She remarked. "He has to have found Tangleweb, he's trying to get us out!"

"You can do it Cal!" Sarah called out. "Kick this spider's silk-spinning ass!"

Meanwhile, out in the real world, Calvin rolled clear as Tangleweb threw another clumsy attack his way. He could see that he was struggling, still a little sluggish after his meal, which he took as a good sign that he hadn't digested the Rangers yet. He hit Tangleweb with a hail of rocks from his Ninja Sword's Earth attack. He was hoping to get and keep Tangleweb's attention, but he was also keenly aware that he couldn't finish him off while the Rangers were inside him. While it was possible that he could end any spell he had on them, he didn't know if that was the case. He couldn't take the chance that destroying him would also destroy the only way of getting his friends back. He ducked only a few inches to his left as Tangleweb spewed out some webbing which sailed overhead harmlessly.

"Man, your aim is worse than mine on an ice-cream headache!" Calvin taunted him.

"You dare to mock me?" Tangleweb screeched. "I don't need to aim to get you with this! Vortex!"

This was what Calvin had been waiting for. He didn't know why the Nexus Prism wanted him to use the bike, all he knew was that the bike was the answer somehow, but that meant getting to it...which meant literally leaping into the belly of the beast! As Tangleweb transformed into his vortex mode, Calvin went with the wind as opposed to fighting it, aiming to control his flight instead. Activating the water mode in his Ninja Sword, he used jets to guide him past any incoming webs and flew into Tangleweb's waiting vortex.

It took him a moment to get his bearings, but as he came through the other side, Calvin rolled back to his feet.

"Calvin!" Hayley called out. Calvin wanted to run to his girlfriend's side, to free her, but he knew that right now he needed to focus. Almost immediately some webs shot out of the walls, but he was quick enough to cut them down. He went to her side once he was sure there were no more webs coming.

"Hayley, are you alright?" He asked her.

"We're fine." Hayley told him.

"For now maybe." Sarah grumbled as Calvin started to cut the White Ranger free. "But now we're all trapped!"

"Maybe, but not for long." Calvin told them as he went to the bike, beginning to cut it free, leaving Hayley to free Preston, Sarah and Brody.

"Calvin, what are you doing?" Preston asked him.

"The Nexus Prism gave me this." Calvin told them, showing him his new Power Star. "It showed me an image of the bike. I think it wants me to use it."

"Use the bike?" Sarah asked him. "You?"

Calvin however wasn't listening. He placed his Power Star on the handlebars, at which the bike was engulfed in flames and started to change shape. They all watched as it transformed into a brand new attack cycle, with a large, powerful engine, and what looked like laser cannon mounted on the handlebars.

"Calvin, what are you doing?" Brody asked him. Calvin just gulped, mounting the bike. He could already feel his heart beginning to tense up, and his palms beginning to sweat. He could already think of a thousand ways this could go wrong, how he could hurt himself or one of his friends, but gripping the handlebars tightly he took a deep breath.

"The Nexus Prism believes in me, so does Mick." Calvin started to tell himself. "The only one that doesn't is me."

"Calvin..."

"I can do this." He said, nodding his head as he started up the engine. "I can do this!"

In the school, still trapped in the lockers, Monty and Victor were trying to pass the time as best as they could.

"So, what's on the menu today?" Victor asked his friend.

"Pulled pork and beetroot." Monty told him. Victor just smiled. Monty's parents were extremely unusual in their approach to nutrition. It was almost a running competition to see if they could outdo themselves with the grossest possible combination of ingredients for Monty's lunch. The one and only good part about it was that no bully had ever stolen Monty's lunch. He'd been stuffed into lockers, forced to do homework, given a swirly or two, but absolutely NO ONE wanted to steal one of his lunches!

"Nice." Victor commented. "Is it your parent's own pickled beetroot? Or did they buy it in?"

"It's bought in." Monty grumbled. "Mom hasn't had much time to do much pickling lately."

"Hey wait, someone's coming!" Victor said, calling out. He started banging on the door to the lockers. "Hey! Hey, let us out!"

He couldn't see much through the grill, but eventually he saw a face, and a leather jacket. He saw a smile.

"Victor?" He asked.

"Ace." Victor sighed.

"Wow, now THIS is a turn up for the books!" He commented. "Monty? Well...it's been a while since I've seen this, it almost makes me nostalgic!"

"Come on Ace, just let us out!" Victor told him. Ace just folded his arms.

"Who put you in here anyway?" He asked.

"Does it matter?" Victor asked him. "Now let us out!"

"Sure, whatever." Ace said, beginning to work the lock.

"Wait, you need to get someone to cut the..."

Victor's words fell silent as Ace opened the door and let him out.

"Cut the what?" Ace asked him. "Dude, these lockers are easier to break into than the teacher's lounge."

"They were held shut by webs." Victor commented. "That monster..."

"Wait, monster? You're trying to tell me a monster locked you in here?" Ace laughed. The two guys and the girl with him also laughed, mocking Victor. He just got a serious look on his face.

"We were locked in by a monster!" Victor told him.

"Sure, whatever dude." Ace mocked him.

"Wait, what about Monty?" Victor asked.

"What about him?" Ace asked. "He's a nerd! That's where nerds belong!"

"Ace, let him out!" Victor demanded. Ace just shook his head and looked at him in disgust.

"Man, I should have left you in there too. This was an act of pity." Ace commented. "I can't believe we used to hang. I remember when you were cool. Come on guys!"

As they left, Victor just sighed and stood by the locker, waiting on the janitor to come by on his rounds with the master key.

Back outside, Tangleweb was sitting with a satisfied look on his face as he waited to be transported back to the ship. He had done what no one else could and had defeated the Rangers. Now, all five of them were safely captured, and the Power Stars...well...they weren't going anywhere for a while. He was starting to think of what he could negotiate as a deal once he got back. A title shot, that was a given, but he had been in nickel and dime matches for so long, he was determined to make sure he got his slice of the pie at the big boy's table. Now he would get his time at the fancy parties, the food that didn't come out of the trash, he could leave The Sump...well...maybe that was a little hasty, he kind of liked it there all things considered, and it was his fans there that brought him to the dance.

Suddenly, he felt burning, searing pain inside, it escalated through discomfort and pain, and into outright agony very quickly. He fell to his hands and knees, screaming, before he felt something coming up. He retched hard, at which Calvin and his bike raced out. Very shortly afterwards, he was followed by the other four Rangers.

"Ugh, that was super gross!" Preston complained. "I am going to shower for a week!"

"I thought being locked in the dumpster was bad." Sarah grumbled. She noticed Hayley looking at her curiously. "Um...long story."

"Calvin, you did it!" Hayley screamed, throwing her arms around him. If it wasn't for the helmets, she'd already be kissing him. She knew how terrified he was getting behind the wheel of any vehicle. She had seen him go into full-blown panic attacks so many times, almost to the point of needing hospital treatment.

"Hey, you can thank the Mega Morph Cycle." He told her, patting his latest creation. She just turned his face towards her.

"Calvin Maxwell, that bike may be super awesome, but it's just a bike. Without a rider, it's a fancy clothes hanger." She told him. "This was all you."

"Guys, this isn't over yet." Brody told them, putting a Power Star into his morpher and activating bow mode. Tangleweb was starting to come around and get back to his feet. "He just cleared a whole lot of room. If we don't take him down now, he's just going to suck us up again."

"Not on my watch." Calvin agreed, also activating bow mode on his morpher. "Power Bow, FINAL STRIKE!"

With that, the Rangers all took aim, opening fire and blasting Tangleweb before he could return to the fray. He started to spark as he pitched backwards.

"I just lost my appetite!" He screamed, before he hit the ground and exploded. Calvin looked around for a Buzz-cam and grabbed it, staring straight into it.

"Show's over, Ninjas win!" He called out, crushing it in his hand. Brody hit him on the shoulder.

"Hey, that's MY line!" He protested.

"Sorry Brody, but I'm in the driver's seat today." Calvin answered.

Up on the Warrior Dome, the audience had seen Tangleweb fall, and were voicing their opinions on his performance. While some of the audience in the higher-tier seats were all too happy to see him remain ash, Cosmo could see that a lot of his fans from The Sump were in attendance tonight, and were calling for him to get another chance. Normally he would base most of his opinions on the higher-paying customers, but the arena was packed with creatures of The Sump, and even at the lower ticket prices, that was a LOT of money pouring straight into his pocket! He looked to the console which registered the vote, and he wasn't surprised by the result.

"It looks like the audience has spoken; Tangleweb has not spun his last web!" Cosmo called out, skipping over to his console. "You all know what that means don't you?"

"GIGANTIFY!" A massive call went out from the audience as Cosmo slammed his hand down on the button, sending the beam down to Earth.


	13. Another Word For Fear

In the Ranger Base, Mick was nervously watching the latest battle, which was not going as well as he would have hoped. Tangleweb had already tried to use his vortex attack, but it seemed that even in his gigantified state, he couldn't grow large enough to hoover up the Zords. It was something of an unexpected turn of good fortune, but the flipside was that he was surprisingly nimble for one so quick. His limbs seemed to be reversible and operated just as well reaching behind him as they did reaching in front of him, something that Brody found out to his cost when he tried to grapple him from behind to hold him in place for the others to attack.

"Get this eight-legged freak off me!" Brody called out as he struggled to get free.

"I'm coming Brody!" Preston called out, circling round to come at him with a breath attack. Tangleweb saw him coming though and launched a web attack that bound him tightly. The Dragon Zord fell from the sky, crashing into the concrete below and started to struggle on the ground.

"I...I can't get loose!" Preston grunted as he tried in vain to break out. "His webs...they've been gigantified too! They're as strong as steel cables!"

"Preston, try and get free..."

"I'm webbed up too!" He interrupted Mick. "I can't get free!"

"Guys, if you can't get Preston free you won't be able to form up the Megazord." Mick told them. "Sarah, try cutting him free with your shuriken attack."

"You want me to fire on Preston?" She screamed.

"It's better his Zord takes a little damage from your attack than he's vulnerable to the spider." Mick told her.

"He's right Sarah!" Preston told her. "It's better to apologise later than to lose the battle."

Mick watched on as Hayley tried to keep Tangleweb distracted while Sarah circled round to free Preston. Unfortunately he saw this ruse coming and managed to web up the Zoom Zord.

"Stupid webs!" Sarah yelled as her Zord came to a grinding halt. "I am sick of this spider!"

"Mick, do you have any ideas?" Calvin asked as he launched a rock attack at Tangleweb. The monster turned so that he hit the Robo Red Zord instead, using it to shield him. "Shit, sorry Brody!"

"Sizzling circuits, he's got an answer for everything!" Redbot declared, seeing the battle going badly. "What are we going to do?"

"Shove him up the world's largest water spout?" Mick suggested weakly. He was unfortunately running out of ideas too. It was only as they were starting to let their despair get the better of them that Redbot noticed the Nexus Prism starting to glow.

"Mick, look!" Redbot called out. Mick turned to see the Nexus Prism showing them an image of large animals. He furrowed his brows, confused as to what it meant.

"What are those things?" He asked.

"I think...they're called elephants." Redbot told him. "They're the largest land mammals alive today."

The image shifted again, this time showing a green Zord that took on the form of an elephant. Mick finally understood what it meant.

"That's what we need, more power!" He stated. "He can't hold them if they have the power to break free!"

Redbot picked up a throwing star and looked to Mick, who just nodded his head.

"Go ahead." He told him. Redbot threw the throwing star into the Nexus Prism which spun and started to glow more brightly, before it launched out a green Power Star. Redbot caught it...or more accurately it lodged itself in his chest plate.

"Oh...I guess my reaction speed isn't up to catching Ninja Power Stars." He commented. Mick grabbed it, wrenching it out of his chest plate, before looking to the screen as he heard a crash.

"The Kodiak Zord is down now too." He stated. "I just hope I'm not too late!"

He rushed outside, knowing that the Power Star would need to get to the Rangers soon if it was going to be of much use. He activated his Ninja Comm.

"Guys, is anyone still in the fight?" He asked.

"Brody just got webbed to the parking structure!" Calvin told him, opening fire with his ninja blaster in a show of desperation more than any real kind of idea. "I'm still loose, but I had to abandon the Nitro Zord! He's got it trapped too!"

"Calvin, I'm sending a new Zord your way." Mick told him. "I call it the Rumble Tusk Zord."

"Alright Mick, I'm ready!" Calvin told him. Winding up the pitch, Mick threw the Zord Star high into the air, where it disappeared into the distance.

Up on the Warrior Dome, Cosmo was doing his utmost to commentate the match, but he was being drowned out by the audience of Sump Dwellers that had flooded the arena to see their home-town boy on the verge of destroying the Rangers. Watching from the production room, Odious was grinning, while Ripcon seemed somewhat less than thrilled.

"Your pathetic Sump Dweller is pathetic! He had all the Rangers trapped and he let them go!" Ripcon declared. "He was bested by a little indigestion?"

"He's done better than any of your so-called candidates." Odious reminded him. "He's already got five Rangers and six zords trapped. He's only got one Ranger to squash and then the Power Stars are ours for the taking."

"And you get to keep your Sump Dweller." He snorted. "I suppose you'll be setting up a championship match. Tell me, isn't it a conflict of interests since you manage both fighters?"

"You keep calling him a Sump Dweller. Tell me...didn't you used to live in The Sump?" She asked him.

"The emphasis there is on 'used to'." Ripcon said in disgust. "The first thing I did when the decent fight purses started rolling in was move out of that polluted, stinking cesspool!"

"That would be why Tangleweb has an arena full of fans screaming for you and your bouts are a little more of a deafening yawn." She taunted him. Ripcon didn't care for fans or being entertaining. He didn't go much for drama or showmanship, he only fought when he was paid, and finished his bouts as quickly and safely to himself as possible. While this was a sensible approach to prevent injury, it also meant he took a hit in the ratings. While many did watch his matches because he was one of the best fighters to grace the Warrior Dome, many much poorer fighters made significantly more money because they were entertaining. "I believe the phrase the Earthlings use is 'keep it real' or 'remember where you came from'."

"I remember where I came from!" Ripcon told her. "It was a shit-hole! The first thing I did is leave when I had the chance and I'm glad I'm never going back! I'm just honest about it!"

"Yes...because honesty sells SO well." She chuckled. "In the meantime, I'll just watch my man destroy the Rangers, bring in the Power Stars, and look forward to my major payday."

"Well, well, well, what's this?" Ripcon answered, pointing to the screen. "It looks like there's a new twist in the plot!"

"A...a...a...new Zord?" She stammered.

"It's...it's just one more new Zord." Wrench said, trying to appease the situation. "He's taken down all the others, what difference could one more make?"

Back at the site of the battle, Calvin was taking pot-shots at Tangleweb while he avoided his webs and his attacks. He threw himself aside as one of Tangleweb's legs came crashing through the building he was using for cover.

"When was the last time you saw a spider squash a human?" He cackled. "You're only delaying the inevitable Yellow Ranger!"

Calvin figured he had a point, but just as he was about to give up hope, he saw a glint in the distance. He ran and leapt into the air, snatching the Rumble Tusk Zord star out of the air, snapping it into his Ninja Sword.

"Alright Mick, let's see what this Rumble Tusk Zord can do!" He called out. The ground beneath him shook as the Zord rumbled into view, firing on Tangleweb with its lasers. The monster had to fall back under the assault as it arrived. Calvin leapt onto the Zord, taking up control of it.

"You think one more Zord can stop me? I'll take it down like I took down all the others!" Tangleweb answered as he launched a web attack. Before he could react though, Calvin found the Rumble Tusk Zord sucking up all the webs into its trunk, startling the creature. He smiled.

"Sucks to be you!" He commented. "But the best thing is, this thing also BLOWS!"

He reversed the flow, sending all the webs back at Tangleweb, who started to become tangled and caught up in his own trap. Calvin turned to the others.

"Alright, let's see if this works." He stated, drawing all the webbing off them, freeing them up.

"Nice one Cal!" Hayley said as she was finally freed.

"I say it's high time we finish this guy for good!" Brody announced. "Cal, you've taken the lead up until now, you want to do the honours?"

"Sure I do." He answered. "Rumble Tusk Megazord, activate!"

The zords came together, combining into their new combination. The Zord stood before Tangleweb, wielding a pair of huge axes as Tangleweb was finally able to free himself. Calvin took up the command position in the centre of the cockpit, taking up the Power Sword. He smiled as he pulled the rip cord.

"I always wanted to use this thing." He remarked. "Say hello to my little friend!"

"Final STRIKE!" The Rangers all called out together. The two axes started to glow, before the Megazord threw them, slicing through Tangleweb. The monster pitched forward, before hitting the ground and exploding as the axes came back into its hands.

"Say hello to my little friend?" Sarah asked. "Really Cal? You went with quoting 'Scarface'?"

"Hey, when it's your turn to use this thing, you can say whatever you want!" Calvin answered with a smirk, lifting the blade before him. "Show's over, Ninjas WIN!"

Back up on the Warrior Dome, in the production booth, they watched as the fight ended and Tangleweb was destroyed. Standing back from the screen with his arms folded over his chest, Ripcon just smirked.

"Well, so much for your Sump Dweller, eh Odious?" He asked. He looked around, but she was gone. She had simply vanished. When, he couldn't be certain, but there was no sign of her at all.

"You know, you do seem awfully happy that our side LOST." Wrench reminded him.

"Please, you can't tell me you seriously wanted HER to win did you?" He asked. "Where the hell does she go to anyway?"

"But...but...but...we're all on the same side!" Wrench stammered, trying to avoid the question. He knew where Odious was likely to have gone. When the battle started to turn, she had probably just abandoned Tangleweb to his fate. He knew her commitment to her charges was paper-thin, and she was only too happy to cut her losses. She already had something else in the works, what he didn't know exactly, but it had to do with the two humans in her lab. All he knew was that if she was so willing to cut one of her own contracted talent loose so easily, the last thing he wanted to do was find out what she'd do to someone like himself that she owed literally nothing to. "We're all trying to destroy the Rangers!"

"The Rangers will be destroyed, but not by the likes of her." Ripcon told him. "I don't trust her!"

With that, Ripcon left. Wrench just nodded as he went.

"Probably the smartest thing you've ever said." He responded as he went back to work, knowing that soon Cosmo would be coming by for his report on the viewing figures and to figure out strategy on how to put together the following week's show.

A couple of days later, Sarah and Mick were standing on the edge of the curb outside the school as Preston arrived.

"Hey, you guys got the message too?" He asked.

"Yeah, Hayley just texted me to meet her here." Sarah responded. "Did she tell either of you why?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." Preston answered, shrugging his shoulders. Mick smiled as he pointed down the street.

"But not as good as mine I'm betting." He answered. They all looked down the road to see Nitro rolling up to the curb, but there was one noticeable difference. Hayley was not at the wheel, this time Calvin was. They got out, coming towards their friends as Calvin twirled the keys around his finger. Hayley knelt down beside Kody, who had leapt out of the back, stroking him affectionately.

"Cal, nicely done!" Sarah complimented him. "I see the lessons have progressed beyond the parking lot!"

"Not just the lessons." Calvin told her, pulling out his wallet. "Say hello to my little friend!"

"No freaking WAY!" Preston called out, taking the brand new card from Calvin's grip, inspecting it. "You...you..."

"I was nervous, but after having to drive to help you guys out, I realised that driving isn't quite so bad." Calvin told them. "Don't get me wrong, I still totally prefer Hayley being behind the wheel. I still get really tense behind the wheel and everything. I know a lot of horrible things can happen behind the wheel, but...I guess now I realise that a lot of good things can happen too."

"You got your licence?" Sarah clarified. "Calvin that's awesome! You so have to bump this!"

Calvin fist-bumped with Sarah in celebration of his achievement as Hayley beamed proudly, putting her arms around her boyfriend's neck.

"He didn't just pass, he totally crushed it! He got a perfect score!" Hayley told them. "I guess all that caution really paid off."

"But...having Hayley in the car definitely helped me loosen up a little." Calvin stated. "Thanks a lot guys, I know I'm always going to be a little jittery behind the wheel, but thanks to you, I was able to face it."

"And now that you have, we even have a totally sweet ride to go with it!" Mick told them, bringing up a briefcase and opening it, showing the Rangers the contents. It held five stars, all exactly like the one Calvin had placed on the junker motorcycle. "These new stars will morph into your new Mega Morph Cycles! Any time you need them for a little speed!"

"You know you just said the magic words for me!" Sarah said, bouncing with excitement. "I can't wait to get a chance to use them!"

"So Brody, you're being pretty quiet, how did you do?" Preston asked, seeing the Red Rangers standing behind them looking a little reserved. He started to shuffle his feet and mumbled something. "Um...sorry, I didn't hear that, you what?"

"I failed." Brody reiterated. Sarah, Mick and Preston all looked to each other, before laughing a little.

"You're...you're joking right?" Sarah asked. His face let them know that he most definitely was NOT joking. "You...you FAILED?"

"Well...yeah." Brody said, looking a little sheepish about the whole thing.

"But...but all that showing off you were doing, you were great on the bike! You were great on that practice course..."

"The instructor said I was a little too reckless on the road just yet." Brody admitted. "I guess...I'll just have to try again in a couple of weeks."

"Aw Brody, I'm so sorry." Sarah remarked, now feeling badly about teasing him over it. She didn't really mean to tease him, driving was a difficult skill to master, and it was the duty of the examiner to make sure that any new driver was safe to be on the road by themselves. It had taken her three attempts to pass her own test. "It's not the end of the world, I'm sure you'll get it eventually."

"Hey, it took me more than one try to land a flying side kick without landing on my butt right?" Brody asked. "Anyway, who's up for ice cream? I could use some cheering up!"

"I call shotgun!" Hayley said, gesturing to the passenger seat. "I've been the chauffeur long enough, it's about time you drove me around for a little while."

"Oh, you don't need to worry." Calvin told her. "As long as you're next to me, I have a feeling I'll be in the driver's seat a lot more often."

With that, the Rangers and Mick all piled into Nitro, squeezing in where they could as Calvin started doing his pre-start-up checks. He could feel a little tingle in his chest and his fingers did get a little stiff. Driving still frightened him, and in his mind he knew that it always would, but he had come to learn sometimes a little fear could be a good thing. Another word for that was caution, and that just kept people safe. With the woman he loved sitting right next to him, how could that ever be a bad thing?


	14. Hayley's Dance

The peace conference, or at least what was MEANT to be a peace conference, was well underway, but was not going at all well! The delegate that had the floor was speaking, but with the number of people cat-calling and shouting down, it devolved into a contest of who could speak loudest...and since he was the only one whose microphone was turned on as the designated speaker, so far he was 'winning' though only marginally.

"Time and time again we have had to endure the barbs, insults and disrespect of your nation!" The speaker called out. "You call us the aggressor, yet you are the one who has sent war ships and planes to OUR border! We don't have any ships approaching you!"

"Quiet in the house please!" The House Speaker, the man who was more or less trying, and currently failing, to referee this verbal brawl called out, banging a gavel on the desk.

"Insults, YOU are the nation that has said again and again that you want to build weapons capable of reaching us and causing untold devastation!" The representative of the other nation stated. "As for insults, I'm amazed you have the nerve to talk about insults. I'm not the one that called you..."

"Gentlemen, can we PLEASE stop this!" Hayley called out as she stood up from her seat. She looked between the two men in disbelief. "What I'm seeing and hearing here today is the kind of thing I'd expect from a kindergarten! Are we really listening to two men who have access to nuclear arms whining about each other calling each other nasty names?"

"Did you see what this man...?"

"Yes, I did see what he said, and unfortunately I saw what you did too! I do have a twitter account!" Hayley interrupted one of the speakers. "To be frank I'd be laughing at BOTH of you for behaving like a couple of five-year-olds if it wasn't for the fact you're both in command of extensive armed forces that you seem intent on playing chicken with and frankly it's THOSE lives I want to see saved today!"

There was a massive cheer and the assembly, except for the two representatives having the spat for obvious reasons, erupted into a standing ovation. Hayley smiled as she saw this, and knew, just knew, that perhaps now that they could see how quickly they were isolating the rest of the international community that perhaps these two men could see how reckless they were being with the fate of the world.

She started to stir as she felt her fingers getting damp, and before long, she was pulled from her dream.

"Hayley, Hayley, your alarm didn't go off again!" She heard the voice again. That damned voice; she'd been hearing it ever since her tenure as a Ranger had begun. She was still too worried about what the others would think to bring it up with them, but it worried her deeply that she could still hear it. She sat up on the bed, at which Kody leapt up onto the bed. She smiled and started scratching him behind the ears.

"It looks like the leaders of the world will have to wait." She remarked. "Right now I know a certain someone who's hungry."

It didn't take long for her to get cleaned up and get dressed, before heading down to the kitchen. Both her parents were already out, her mom worked nightshifts at the hospital, and wouldn't get home until after Hayley was at school, while her dad ran his own shop, and was usually out of the house before she woke up. Hayley had been used to getting herself out to school for the last couple of years. In the fridge, she found a bowl full of meat and jelly. Pulling it out, she sniffed it and smiled.

"Someone's in luck." She told Kody, laying down the bowl. "It's your favourite, rabbit!"

The bowl hadn't even hit the floor before Kody was greedily wolfing his way through it, while Hayley made her own breakfast. She was a little disappointed that she hadn't managed to finish her dream, but at least she wasn't running late, even with her alarm clock being on the blink again.

Hayley had long had ambitions of getting into politics, in particular of becoming an ambassador and dealing with other nations. Since she had been a kid, she had seen enough to know that the world was a small place, and becoming smaller every day. Hell, in the last five years alone there had been no less than four different alien forces came to the Earth, and so it probably wasn't going to be long before the Earth wasn't just going to be shared among humans any longer!

Hayley was a peace-keeper by nature. She was always the kid that tried to stop the other kids fighting whenever she saw two kids beating lumps out of each other. She wasn't afraid to fight herself, something she had demonstrated more than once; she just didn't see much of a point in it. Most of the times she had seen others fight, she had found that the cause was usually something stupid that both parties would find equally ridiculous once they actually talked about it and thought about it for a few minutes. Of course that was when people were just throwing fists. Between countries, that quickly escalated into weapons and lives being lost.

She had wondered how to do it, how to make people think about their actions, especially when people would regularly dismiss her as 'just a kid' and someone who was 'too young to know any better', but that was when she had seen an article that had changed her life. It was about a young man from a place she had never even heard of before then that had become an ambassador. She had read how the then 25-year-old Prince Phillipe III of Zandar had left his homeland to become an ambassador to the US.

The article itself was...to be frank...not at all flattering. They said the same things about him that people often said about Hayley, that he was a young man with no real experience of the world, and who was aiming to come from his tiny nation that about 99 percent of the world had never heard of and couldn't point out on a map to tell people how to live their lives. However, over her reading of the article, she saw a young man that like her just realised that the world was a small place and becoming smaller all the time. He realised that simply pretending the rest of the world didn't exist was no longer a viable option and sought to make his people an active and celebrated neighbour in the world. The fact that he was also kind of a good looking guy and Hayley was 16 when she read the article was just a bonus!

She had tailored her education towards that end since then. She was currently studying two languages, German and Spanish, since communication was important to her and her ambition to get the world into a meaningful dialogue, and she was hoping to get into college and majoring in diplomacy and international politics. She had even run for junior president, though largely due to his "popularity", namely everyone treating the vote as a joke, she had ended up losing in a rather embarrassing landslide to Victor, garnering only about half a dozen total votes, including hers and Calvin's! She shrugged off the defeat and congratulated Victor at the time, but seeing that nothing in the school had changed for the better during his tenure frustrated her greatly, and she was hoping that come this election cycle, history wouldn't repeat itself. It was a long way off negotiating peace treaties, but it would certainly look good on her college applications.

She heard a horn blaring outside and smiled as she saw Calvin standing by Nitro with the car keys. He still preferred to let her drive despite now having his licence, but she did manage to get him to agree to at least drive twice a week to keep in practice. She finished her cereal quickly, before gathering up her belongings.

"Come on Kody." She told him, tapping her leg. "Our ride is here."

"Please tell me you're driving, please tell me you're driving, please tell me you're driving..." She heard the strange voice begin again. As she got outside, Calvin threw her the keys. "YES!"

"I have the decorations I promised for the school dance already loaded up." Calvin told her, gesturing to the back of the truck. Hayley had agreed to help set up for the school dance, not because she didn't like the idea of seeing Victor fail to pull off the most basic function of Student Body Council, but because she figured if she did do a good job, it might be remembered by kids who remembered Victor's disastrous first attempt and keep that in mind they were voting next time around. "Sorry Kody, it's the back seat today."

"Thank you!" Hayley said to her boyfriend, kissing him softly. "If you unload at the other end, I'll drive."

"You have a deal!" He said hurriedly, running to the passenger side quickly. Hayley just chuckled a little as she got into the truck, starting up the engine.

Over at the school, the students were already beginning to set up for the school dance. It was a big event for the school, one that normally came around the middle of the school year to break things up a little for the kids and give them something to look forward to rather than force them to wait until the end of term.

Sarah was over at the sound system, tweaking it and checking everything was set up for the best possible sound. While music wasn't really her biggest passion, she was easily one of the most technically gifted, and was more than capable of handling the rather dated school sound system.

Monty was at the refreshments table, setting out place markers for the food and making sure there was enough room for everything to be set out, when another kid came by with a couple of friends and a girl. All of them were wearing studded leather jackets and denims. The lead one had his arm around the girl, and as he approached the table he shoved Monty aside.

"Hey dweeb, where's the food?" He asked.

"Well...uh...um...it's...not out yet." Monty stammered. "The dance isn't until tonight; if we put the food out too early it'll spoil."

"That doesn't help me with the fact I'm hungry now does it?" The big kid asked. Sarah took off her headphones seeing him start to advance on Monty. She could see that Monty was scared of him. The big kid raised his hand quickly, as though to strike him, but then slowly ran it through his hair as Monty flinched. His friends just laughed, seeing the smaller kid reacting in fear to him. "So, what am I meant to eat now?"

"The um...vending machine is right over there, Ace." Monty stammered. Ace just sighed and glared at him.

"So?" He asked. "Go get me something!"

Sarah was just about to get to him when Victor arrived. He put a hand on Monty's shoulder to let the smaller kid know he was there.

"Is there a problem here?" He asked, looking to Ace. "What's going on?"

"Monty here was just about to get me a snack, weren't you Monty?" Ace asked him. Monty was shaking his head. Victor could see exactly what this was.

"Why, can't afford your own candy bar?" Victor asked him. "Uncle James' shop was doing quite well last time I passed."

"Whatever." He muttered, shaking his head in disgust. "See you around dweeb."

He walked past, along with his cronies, narrowly missing Sarah. She just looked to the two of them as Victor patted Monty on the shoulder.

"Come on." He replied. "I'll help you make the punch."

Sarah just scratched her head, completely confused by what she had seen. She knew that Victor and Monty were "friends", but for the most part Victor kind of dominated Monty, almost seemed to push him around. However, from what she had seen, here he was actually defending Monty. He had got there before she stepped in to break up the obvious shake-down. Shaking her head, she just went back to the decks to continue her sound checks. The sound system was older than her dad, and it was going to take her a little while to figure out the finer points of how to make it work.

Over in the Ranger Base, Redbot was sitting reading a book. He had a couple of stacks sitting next to him, one significantly smaller than the other. It was a selection he had borrowed from the library to read. Being limited in how much he could explore since people weren't really used to seeing robots walking around on Earth just yet, and as he had learned from a couple of books, particularly one mentioning something called the Machine Empire, humans' experience with robots hadn't been particularly smooth sailing so far. Mick had given him a book to read to pass the time, but he had finished it and was keen to find more to fill his data banks on how things worked on Earth. When the school was closed, he had been going to the library to read, but he had taken some books back to the base with him to tide him over between library visits. Fortunately the kids at the school were into more modern pursuits and so the library generally didn't notice a book or fifty going missing so long as they were returned quite quickly.

He always returned them quickly too. Thanks to his processors being more efficient than a human's sensory system, he only needed to read something once to remember it, and he could read whole pages in seconds. He had burned through the entire Harry Potter series in about two hours. He had seen a broad range of stories, from Westerns to Adventure to Science Fiction...which he found to be somewhat farcical since he essentially was Science Fiction, but the ones he enjoyed the most were fairy tales.

Humans, he found, tended to learn best by context rather than explanation and would often use stories to give people the context by which to teach people lessons. Fairy tales, for all their naiveté and idealistic presentation covered a wide range of emotions and actions. Compassion, cruelty, intrigue, betrayal, heroism, love...the last one in particular was something that stirred something within him. That there was a force that would drive someone to act in the interests of another beyond themselves, even in ways that were self-destructive or put them in very real danger, sometimes even caused them to sacrifice themselves was one of the most powerful and amazing forces he could imagine.

"And so the Prince got down on one knee before the fair maiden and said, 'Won't you accompany me to the Grand Ball?'" He read aloud. "Oh, what a story!"

He was starting to form up images in his processors, creating the scene before him in a kind of digital play for himself. He was only distracted from this as he felt the book being pulled from him. He looked down, seeing Kody resting his paws on his book.

"Hey, what are you doing Kody? I'm trying to read!" Redbot stated. Hayley looked up from what she was doing, and smiled, patting her leg.

"Come on Kody!" She called to her dog, whistling to bring him over. Kody came over to her, allowing Hayley to scratch him behind the ears. "It's alright Redbot, Kody just wants to play!"

"Well I just want to read." Redbot said in a tone that sounded a little strange to Hayley. She just laughed.

"So I see!" She said, gesturing to the books. "So which one is the pile you've read?"

"This one." Redbot said, reaching up to put the book on a pile that by now was higher than her head. The other pile only seemed to have about three or four books in it.

"So...how many days' reading is this?" She asked.

"Days?" Redbot asked. "This is what I've read this morning."

"O...kay then!" Hayley said, figuring that it wasn't exactly a surprise that Redbot processed information quickly. His brain was essentially a computer after all, when she was only about ten, she had seen her dad upload the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica onto his PC in about an hour, and she knew that Earth computers were a significant way behind what Redbot was used to. "I guess you were never programmed to play."

"No I wasn't." Redbot admitted.

"Yeah, I suppose fun wasn't something programmed into your databanks." She surmised, shrugging and turning away, picking up some paperwork from the printer. She had been working on tickets for the dance, and just needed to go to the craft room to use the guillotine to cut them up. "Anyway, I just need to get ready for the school dance tonight."

"School dance, that's just like in my book!" Redbot said to himself. He saw the White Ranger about to leave. "Hayley, can I have a word with you for a moment?"

"Well...it'll have to be a quick moment." Hayley told him, checking her watch. "Victor's MEANT to be organising this so that means that if I don't do everything it's going to be a disaster."

"Hayley...won't you accompany me to the Grand Ball?" Redbot asked, sinking down to one knee, and offering her a hand, just like he had seen the Prince do in his book. Hayley stared at him for a long moment, before bursting out laughing straight into his face.

"You're joking, right?" She asked him, picking up her paperwork and gathering her schoolbag. "You're so funny Redbot! I'll see you around!"

As she left, Redbot just got slowly up and hung his head as he looked to his books.

"I wasn't joking at all." He muttered. "I really did want to go to the dance."

With that, he just wandered out of the Ranger base, heading for the woods to be by himself. Suddenly, he didn't really want to read anymore.


	15. Help! Our Robot Is Missing!

On the Warrior Dome, Cosmo was in his office, sitting in his chair, stroking his temples as he listened to Ripcon go on and on for seemingly the millionth time about how Madame Odious had the Rangers bang to rights, and yet had managed to let almost certain victory slip through her fingers. On two separate occasions, she had four of the five Rangers trapped, and their Power Stars ripe for the picking, and for a brief period, she actually had all five trapped inside her monster! He was drowning out most of what Ripcon was saying, hearing only white noise as he paced around, waving his arms in an animated manner and ranting aloud, he had already heard all of his arguments several times.

Ripcon was a strong warrior, that much was never in dispute, but the thing he never did grasp about the business was the showmanship. His own bouts were few and far between because most of them were over in minutes flat, and with Ripcon focusing more on destroying his opponents than playing up to the crowd. That Ripcon constantly harassed him, lobbying for a job in production was nothing short of laughable to Cosmo. He couldn't make his own bouts entertaining, what made him think he could pick opponents that would give the crowd a good show? Cosmo had always strung him along though, constantly dangling the carrot with talks of "negotiations" and "meetings with the network" and suchlike to keep him from doing something stupid...and more importantly painful! Yet he knew that Ripcon's patience had to be wearing thin. He had kept the pretence up for a couple of years now, but surely even Ripcon, the man who once agreed to a bout he had to PAY to be a part of based on the mere suggestion of a rankings boost, had to have enough business savvy to realise sooner or later he was no closer to his production job than he had been for the last decade!

"Why...look, here we are at a production meeting for the next show and what is she contributing?" Ripcon roared, panning around the room. "She isn't even HERE! She didn't even deign to grace us with her presence!"

This last part was something Cosmo couldn't deny. Odious was a sneaky one, she was always disappearing, always having private discussions and slipping off to shady meetings that he knew nothing about. He had long suspected that she had an agenda of her own that he wasn't able to figure out, but since she currently owned the contracts of several of his highest-value talent and she always found a way to deliver a significant bump in his figures, he was forced to overlook a little secrecy. That didn't mean to say he wasn't trying to find out what she was up to though, he was keenly aware of how he got his job in the first place, and he was in no hurry to lose it the same way!

"Alright Ripcon, you've made your point...MULTIPLE times!" He groaned, taking a sip from his brandy glass. "So tell me, what would you suggest for this week's broadcast?"

"I have a few athletes in mind!" He said with a smile, slapping some folders down on the table. He picked up one file, handing it to Cosmo. "I've been training this one for about a year..."

"PASS!" Cosmo said, tossing the folder over his shoulder.

"But you haven't seen..."

"Exactly! I haven't seen him! He hasn't been in any of the undercards, what makes you think I should skip him straight to the big leagues?" Cosmo asked him.

"But he's one of the best..."

"I don't need GOOD, I need ENTERTAINING!" Cosmo reminded him. "This one looks like he has all the personality of my last bowel movement! Next!"

"Well...if you want entertaining, I have one here that does remarkable tricks with burning torches..."

"We had a fire monster only a couple of weeks ago Ripcon, people want something fresh!" Cosmo told him. Ripcon's nostrils started to flare as he was losing his patience.

"What do you want? Some kind of theme?" He asked.

"Well, a gimmick usually does attract a little interest." Cosmo answered. "We've done elements, we've had creepy, let's go for something fun. How about something with a little...razzle dazzle?"

"Razzle dazzle?" Ripcon asked him sceptically. "What do you want? A song and dance number?"

"Music...hmm...I haven't seen a music theme in a while, people might be into that." Cosmo said thoughtfully, stroking his chin. "Alright Ripcon, go ahead and find me my musical act!"

Ripcon grabbed his folders from the desk and stormed out of the room. He couldn't stomach all the needless showmanship and soap opera of Cosmo's show. He had been in gladiatorial bouts most of his life, and grew with the belief in the talent and skill of the warrior being more important than some flamboyant costume or silly catch phrase or wild gimmick. However, he had been given an opportunity. He was now picking talent for the show, so if Cosmo wanted a song-and-dance man, Ripcon was going to find someone to play a funeral march!

Back at the school, the preparations were underway for the dance. Monty and Victor came in, carrying a large punch bowl, setting it up on the refreshments table. Most of the food would be brought out closer to the time, but they had gone to prepare the punch largely as a way to keep Monty out of Ace's way. Ace wasn't exactly a school-spirited kind of guy, and wouldn't be going to the dance anyway, but that didn't mean he wouldn't take advantage of the time he was meant to be helping set up to cause more hassle. Sarah still didn't know what the deal was with them, but as long as Victor was close by, she knew that Monty would be fine.

She was concentrating on the sound system, having almost got the mixing just to her liking. It would be her first school function at the new school, and she was determined to do her bit to make it go off without a hitch.

Victor took off his letterman jacket and handed it to Monty.

"Well, this place is looking almost as good as me; all that's left is for me to practice my moves." Victor declared, pointing over to Sarah. "Maestro! Music if you please!"

Sarah just shook her head and turned on the speakers, allowing the music to be heard as Victor struck a ridiculous bird-man pose that she couldn't quite believe. She had heard him bragging before about how dancing was just another way for him to prove his athletic prowess, and how good he was, but as soon as he started...she just stared and her jaw almost hit the floor!

She was used to seeing Victor make an ass of himself by now, the boy had virtually no shame and seemed to have such an inflated ego it verged on the outright delusional, but she had seen that he did have some talents. Dancing though, it seemed, was NOT one of them! He couldn't hold a beat, his sense of rhythm made it look like he was listening to an entirely different song to everyone else, and his moves were so wild and awkward, for a moment she thought it was a parody of an actual dance.

His balance was about all that she could say was good, but he moved more like a combination between someone trying to fight off a swarm of mosquitoes and someone who had been inadvertently hooked up to the mains supply! He was leaping about like he was trying to fly, only to realise he didn't have wings, all the while wearing an expression and looking to his audience like he genuinely believed they were admiring him.

"Oh...my...God!" Sarah gasped, unable to believe that the guy she was seeing moving like a chimpanzee being tickled with a feather duster was the same guy she had watched slipping past whole teams on the basketball court single handed in Summer Cove's games. He started a twirl, but the second he started it, Sarah could see he had lost control. She had danced herself for quite some time and she knew what a controlled twirl should look like, between his inability to focus on a point on the wall and his footing, it was no surprise whatsoever when he started to stumble and fall around. The kid from before, Ace, seemed to see this and surreptitiously put out a foot to trip Victor, sending him face-planting into the refreshments table. The punch flew across the room where it drenched Brody and Hayley, who were preparing tickets to hand out.

"Nice moves Victor!" Brody said in an annoyed tone, beginning to towel himself off while Hayley made sure none of the tickets had been destroyed. Fortunately, it seemed like only they had been drenched.

"Let's go and get changed before Victor decides to show us his super twirl again!" Hayley remarked as they headed off. Monty helped Victor get up and took him to get cleaned up as the others laughed. Sarah made her way over to Ace and his friends.

"I saw that." She whispered to him.

"It's kind of hard to miss watching the President making an ass of himself. He does it like every day." Ace laughed, backed up by his cronies.

"I meant you tripping him." Sarah warned him. Ace just looked to her.

"I don't know what you mean." He stated.

"I saw you trip him!" Sarah reiterated. Ace just smirked at her.

"What are you their bodyguard?" He asked her. "Victor can fight his own battles, he's a big boy."

"Good one Ace." One of his friends chuckled. Sarah just looked to him in disbelief.

"Ace? Really?" She asked him. "Somehow I doubt that's what's on your birth certificate."

"This is America; I'm allowed to be called whatever I want as long as it isn't for fraud." He informed her.

"So tell me, 'Ace'." Sarah began, air-quoting the Ace. "When you decided to change your name, by any chance did you change your surname to 'Hole'?"

Ace's face just slipped and he stopped laughing. He put his arm around his girlfriend and clicked his fingers.

"Come on guys, this place is boring me." He grumbled as they left.

Up on the Warrior Dome, Ripcon went into the production booth, finding Wrench rushing around in something of a panic.

"Where's Cosmo? Has anyone seen Cosmo?" He yelled as he looked around the interns and Kudabots in the booth. Ripcon went up to him and turned him towards a console.

"Start rolling!" He told him.

"But we're missing..."

"START ROLLING!" Ripcon yelled, bending him over the console. Wrench was reluctant, especially since he hadn't heard any word from Cosmo to tell him that it was alright to begin the broadcast. His gaze, however, strayed to the swords that were jutting out from under Ripcon's coat and thought better of trying to defy him.

"Stage lights up, music..."

"No music." Ripcon said with a little snigger. Wrench just shook his head.

"Alright, no music." He agreed. "Smoke, and...hit the lights, we are ROLLING!"

As soon as he directed the cameras to start rolling, he heard some carnival style music blaring, and a line of Kudabots stormed onto the stage. He watched, completely astounded and bewildered as they started dancing!

"What the...how...why...?" He started to stammer as they performed some twirls and flips on the stage, before forming up a kick-line, throwing high-kicks into the air in a bizarre can-can. "What the hell is going on here?"

It was at that point that Cosmo showed up, running onto the stage, cane in hand and started dancing with them as they continued their kick line. He made his way to the edge of the stage, pulling a full flip, before landing and falling to his knees, greeting the audience with a jazz-hands. The music stopped as a monster walked onto the stage.

"What...what...what's going on? Where am I?" Cosmo asked as he looked out, seeing the audience before him cheering and clapping for him. He looked around and realised he was standing on the stage. The last he remembered, he was in his office, waiting on Ripcon bringing him the monster he had promised him. He could see the Kudabots behind him who were no less confused as to what they were doing there. "Was I...dancing?"

"Hi, I'm Badpipes! With my hornpipes I can control anyone!" The monster declared in a strongly accented voice that grated on Cosmo almost as much as the violation of having his body taken over and made to humiliate himself in front of his entire audience. "With my pipes, the Rangers will deliver the Power Stars right into my hands!"

"Then...let's...let's get underway shall we?" He said, hitting a command and sending Badpipes down to Earth. He stormed off the stage, furious and humiliated by Ripcon's actions. "For his sake, Badpipes had better get those Power Stars!"

Down at the school, Hayley and Brody made their way into the Ranger Base to change. Mick was gone, having gone with Principal Hastings earlier in the day to a nearby cash-and-carry to pick up supplies.

"Redbot?" Brody called out, looking around, still irritated by what had happened. He couldn't see any sign of him. "Where is he?"

Kody barked, almost in response.

"What did he say?" Brody asked.

"I don't know." Hayley sniggered. "I don't speak dog."

"If he means the robot he left." Hayley heard the voice again. "He went out a little after you did."

"Hayley?" Brody asked, looking at her. Hayley realised that he was staring at her as she looked around, trying to locate the source of the voice.

"He...um...he went out." She told him.

"How do you know that?" Brody asked. Hayley didn't know how to answer that. She didn't exactly know how Brody would take hearing that a voice in her head had told her that Redbot had left the Ranger base after she had.

"Well...it's not the biggest room is it?" She asked him. "Do you see him here?"

Brody just shrugged, taking this explanation at face value. Brody noticed a book lying open by the pile of books Redbot had been reading. He picked it up; looking at the page it was open to.

"And so the Prince stood before the fair maiden and said 'Won't you accompany me to the Grand Ball?'." Brody read aloud. Hayley's ears pricked up hearing this.

"Wait...that was exactly what Redbot said to me earlier." She commented.

"Yeah, when you shot him down." The voice responded.

"He asked you to the dance?" Brody asked her. "What did you say?"

"I said no! Obviously!" Hayley said in a slightly derisive laugh. Brody though didn't seem to find this funny. If anything he seemed to be thinking about something.

"Maybe you hurt his feelings when you said no." Brody suggested. Hayley just stared at him.

"You're kidding, right?" She asked him. "He's a robot! Robots don't have feelings, anymore than a...a toaster does, or a coffee maker!"

"Ooh, sick burn on the robot!" The voice said, causing Hayley to start spinning around, looking for signs of who was talking to her.

"Redbot does." Brody told her. "He's very advanced."

"Uh oh, someone's in trouble!" The voice said.

"Brody, he's a machine. He...he can't have feelings." She told him. "He might have programming that LOOKS like feelings, like empathy, but..."

"No, he really does. He's a serving droid." Brody told her. "He's designed to be a servant. The engineers of the Lion Galaxy figured it would make them better servants if they can figure out how people are feeling. It makes them better able to anticipate their needs if they can tell if someone's sick, or tired or sad or whatever. They programmed in empathy and with it feelings."

"Can't fault that logic." The voice replied. "I know when you need a hug."

"He has feelings." Hayley said, trying to ignore the voice. She still couldn't imagine a robot having actual feelings.

"Maybe I should go after him." Brody said, getting ready to leave.

"No...no, you promised to help set up." Hayley responded. "Kody and I will go."

"OK, just...call if you need any help." Brody told her, changing his t-shirt and leaving to head back to the main hall. Hayley took the book and held it for Kody.

"Here Kody, get Redbot's scent." She told him.

"His scent? You know he's a machine right?" She heard the voice ask as Kody stared at her. "He only smells of oil."

Hayley just held out the book, but didn't say anything.

"Alright then." The voice came again as Kody sniffed the book. "Hmm...he does smell a little different...I guess his oil's different from Calvin's engine oil."

Kody turned away and headed out. Hayley just watched him go, and a really strange thought occurred to her. She shook her head and gathered up her jacket.

"Hayley you are definitely losing it." She muttered to herself, shaking her head, staring after Kody as he went. She shook her head again. "No, definitely not."


	16. Search For Redbot

Hayley followed Kody through the woods, searching for the missing Redbot. They all knew that he went out every now and again, it was one of the few places he could really explore without people asking too many questions, so when he left the Ranger Base, it wasn't really much of a surprise that Kody immediately started to track his scent here.

She knew it was a long shot logically getting Kody to track a scent. Dogs could track a scent from another animal or human relatively simply because the oils and perspiration from the skin were unique. From machines though...well...perhaps it was possible that they could track individual TYPES of things like oils and suchlike but since most machines used the same lubricants and fuels, logically they would smell more or less the same, with perhaps only small variations from different brands. She had heard a rumour that during World War Two, the German military had trained dogs to run and hide underneath tanks, the intent being to strap explosives to them to turn them into anti-tank weapons. According to the rumours the programme was scrapped when it was discovered that the dogs would only hide under their OWN tanks because that was what they were trained on and so that was what they were familiar with. The whole story horrified Hayley because of the thought of turning dogs into unwitting suicide bombers, but she was pleased to hear that the project was scrapped.

It did, however, give her hope that perhaps whatever Redbot ran on would be unique enough for him to be able to track him. She imagined that eventually whatever lubricants he was using would run out and he would have to start using generic earth based oils, but fortunately it seemed his lubricants were still working weeks after he arrived on Earth.

"Over here!" Hayley heard the voice calling out again. She looked around and saw Kody sitting by a patch of mud, his head raised, and looking up as he called out to his mistress to inform her he had found something. He raised his head again, though where Hayley was expecting him to howl, she heard the voice. "Hayley, over here! I've found something!"

Hayley made her way over to his side, and knelt down, finding that it was a patch of soft mud, into which a very distinctive shape was pressed. It was KIND of like a footprint, with a tread and suchlike, but it was distinctly rectangular in shape, not much like a human foot at all.

"Good work boy." She said, stroking him.

"Hey, always here to help." She heard the voice saying as Kody nuzzled into her contentedly. She furrowed her brows. It wasn't possible, was it?

"Kody...are you talking to me?" She asked. The dog just looked back to her.

"Of course I am! I've talked to you for years!" He said in response. "It's not my fault you only just started talking back!"

Hayley fell away from him, landing on her backside and scooting away. She stared at Kody in shock. Her eyes were wide, she had been hearing this voice for weeks, this and others, but this voice had been around her constantly.

"K...K...Kody?" She asked.

"What?" He asked her.

"Kody...dogs don't talk!" She responded. "This...this is crazy, how is this...?"

That was when the thought occurred to her. Brody was able to learn ninjitsu to a level far beyond what should be possible for someone who hadn't received any training. Calvin had advanced his ability with engines by leaps and bounds, and Preston...Preston had once pulled a full-grown PANTHER out of a top hat!

"The Ninja Steel!" She gasped, looking to Kody and smiling. She loved Kody immensely, and while she understood him and could tell what he wanted, and she knew he could do the same, it wasn't like they could talk. She would often talk to Kody, but he couldn't answer back, and she knew that realistically he could only vaguely understand simple one-or-two word commands. He certainly never had any trouble understanding when she called 'dinner.' "This has to be the Ninja Steel!"

"Hayley...there's something coming, something that...really STINKS!" Kody warned her. Hayley looked up in time to see a monster appearing in front of her. He was a horrible combination of a bird and a set of bagpipes, and he seemed to be carrying a set of bagpipes under his left arm.

"So, you know where the Ninja Steel is eh? Well, I guess you can show me where that is little lass, once you've handed over yer Power Star!" He declared as he reached out his hand.

"No way!" Hayley declared, pulling out her Morpher, preparing to defend herself. "You can take your awful accent and go back to...to..."

Hayley's words tailed off as Badpipes began playing. Her mind just seemed to go blank, and she was only dimly aware of anything around her. She started to shuffle slowly towards Badpipes, her hand outstretched with the White Power Star in her grasp, offering it up to him. Badpipes started to cackle.

"Like taking candy from a baby!" He chuckled. "In fact, that sounds like fun, I think I might give that a try while I'm here!"

"BACK OFF!" Redbot called out as he entered the fray, hitting him with a flying kick. Badpipes flew back, his pipes landing some way from him.

"What did you do to my hornpipes you metal monstrosity?" Badpipes whined as he started trying to get back to his feet.

"Redbot...Redbot...you saved me!" Hayley said, but Redbot didn't respond. She moved around in front of him. "Redbot? How are you...?"

"I don't know if his music will affect me so I switched off my auditory processors." He told her, beginning to move his hands around. "I can't hear anything right now."

"Redbot, you saved me!" Hayley replied. "His music almost made me give him my Ninja Power Star!"

"Hayley, look out!" Redbot warned her. Hayley turned to face Badpipes, who was just about on his feet by this time.

"Time to pay the piper!" Badpipes declared, looking around for his hornpipes. He knew that without them, he couldn't cast his spell. Hayley caught onto this, and could see his hornpipes on the ground a little way off. If she could keep them away from him, then she knew that would give him one less weapon he could use against her.

"If anyone's going to pay, it's YOU!" She yelled, morphing into the White Ranger and leaping over, grabbing the hornpipes and rolling back to her feet. "I'll take these!"

"NO ONE TOUCHES MY PIPES!" He screamed in response, firing some blasts at Hayley. The White Ranger only dodged a couple of them, before being taken down. Redbot threw himself in the way, trying to protect her and taking some shots as well. He unfortunately couldn't stop him from retrieving his hornpipes though.

"Oh no, he's got his bagpipes back!" Redbot declared.

"They're HORNPIPES!" Badpipes declared. "Not that it'll matter once I hypnotise the White Ranger into taking care of you for me!"

"Leave my mistress alone!" Kody called out, leaping at Bagpipes and knocking him to the ground.

"Good boy Kody!" Hayley congratulated him. "Redbot, he's too strong, we have to get out of here!"

"One of my rocket boots is damaged, but the other is working." He told her. "It's not going to be a smooth ride..."

"Right now, I'll settle for getting out alive!" Hayley told him, grabbing onto the robot tightly. "Kody, follow us!"

With that, Redbot fired up his one remaining rocket boot, blasting off in a chaotic, uncontrolled flight that took them far from Badpipes, but ended with a hard crash landing. Hayley tumbled away from him, de-morphing as the suit took the brunt of the blow.

"Redbot, you saved us." She said. "Redbot?"

"System error...rebooting..." He said, before his body went limp. She went over to him, sitting over him protectively.

"You saved us both Redbot, I'm not leaving you behind." She said, before activating her Ninja Comm. "Guys, come in."

However, she only got a pathetic bleep, before her Ninja Comm died.

"It must have been damaged in the crash." She surmised. "Redbot, I'm not leaving you, even if I have to drag you back myself!"

She grabbed his feet and started to try and drag him, but Redbot was a lot heavier than he looked. She only got him about two feet before realising she'd need to re-think how she would get him all the way back to base by herself.

Up on the Warrior Dome, Cosmo was taking an intermission following Badpipes' first attempt at taking down a Ranger, and was making his way back to his office with Ripcon and Wrench in tow.

"The White Ranger got lucky, that's all! She only got away by running scared!" Ripcon protested, seeing that Cosmo was not at all happy with the way this battle was going.

"You promised me something that would surpass Madame Odious' last efforts and this is what you bring me?" Cosmo yelled at him. "By this time in the broadcast, Tangleweb had already captured four Rangers, your wind-bag can't even take on ONE!"

"She ran away!" Ripcon reminded him. "That's a loss!"

"He's also losing in other areas!" Wrench chipped in. "We've already gotten a number of complaints about Badpipes from the social media feed!"

"Complaints? What complaints?" Cosmo asked him.

"Well...mostly it's his voice." Wrench told him. "About sixty nine percent can't understand a word he's saying and another twenty three percent say it's one of the worst accents they've ever heard! They want to know why we've got a monster trying to mock a Scottish accent who doesn't even sound like he's heard a Scottish person speak!"

"His accent? That's what people are complaining about?" Ripcon asked in disbelief. "But he kicked the White Ranger's ass all over the forest!"

"How is this affecting our figures?" Cosmo asked.

"The first-quarter ratings are down on last week by seventeen percent." Wrench told him. "I've also heard from ticket vendors that about six percent of the studio audience are asking for refunds."

"REFUNDS!" Cosmo screamed, looking like he was about to have a stroke. He glared at Ripcon. "What are you trying to do to my show?"

"Those fans aren't real fans, they just want to see show-boaters, nor real warriors!" Ripcon sneered. "Besides, you're just upset about that song and dance number he made you put on!"

"Oh believe me I'm not happy about that, but if he was selling then he could have made me dance around a stripper pole for all I care." Cosmo snarled at him. "But I just got word from the merchandise tables that over ninety percent of his merchandise is still on the table!"

"But...but..."

"Maybe you should stick to your nickel-and-dime matches, leave the promotion to those of us with the mind for it!" Cosmo interrupted Ripcon. "If you can't boost the ratings by the end of the episode, you can forget all about that word I was going to have with the board!"

With that, he stormed into the office, shutting the door behind him. Ripcon just looked to Wrench.

"How far along are you with those upgrades to the Kudabots?" He asked.

"The Basher Bots?" Wrench asked him. "It'll be at least a couple of weeks before..."

"Prepare the teleporter." He told him. "He wants a bump in the ratings? Badpipes is about to get a tag team partner."

In his office however, Cosmo was still steaming. He knew it was a bad idea to let Ripcon pitch a fighter, but he never thought it was going to be that bad. Ripcon could certainly pick strong fighters, but he knew nothing of the business side of things. He was always confident that Ripcon's pick would be dull, but the come-down in ratings seemed to be verging on the point of sabotage!

"Ripcon really doesn't know how to put on a show does he?" He heard Madame Odious say. Cosmo had to do a double-take. He couldn't remember her being in the office before.

"He's tanking my figures!" Cosmo complained. "If he keeps this up, I'll only be ahead of that stupid reality show by a hundred and thirty points!"

"I did catch some of his performance. It was certainly underwhelming." Madame Odious commented. "Why, if one didn't know any better, it would almost like it was intentional."

"Intentional?" Cosmo asked. "He's been hounding me for a production job for ten years! Why would he try to bring down the show now?"

"I don't know, but it might not be the SHOW he's trying to take down." She suggested. "After all, you said it yourself. He's been asking you for that production role for ages and he hasn't got it. Of course if you were no longer in charge..."

She looked at the look on Cosmo's face, and then smirked.

"Of course, all this is just speculation. Of course I could be entirely wrong." She told him. Cosmo turned to the window, lighting up a cigar.

"Ripcon being devious?" He chuckled. "Well...stranger things have happened. Madame Odious, what would you...?"

As he turned back, Madame Odious was gone. He just scratched his head in confusion, before sitting at his desk to plan out his next move. If he was lucky, this episode might not be the worst he had ever broadcast.

Back on Earth, Hayley was constructing a kind of stretcher from branches and foliage she had available. She didn't know how long it would take Redbot to re-boot, if she was honest, she didn't even know if he could re-boot himself, or if someone needed to activate some kind of command or something. Either way, while he was off-line, she couldn't really leave him, she had no idea who could find him. She reached for her Ninja Power Star as she heard some rustling in the foliage, but she breathed a sigh of relief as Kody came bounding out.

"Kody, you made it!" She said, hugging her dog. "I was so worried he'd caught you!"

"That overgrown wind-bag?" He asked her. "As if, I left him downwind ages ago!"

"Wow...hearing you answering me...that is still so weird." She commented. "So, is he anywhere nearby?"

"No, I can barely smell him now." Kody told her. "But he's probably still looking."

"You're right. We need to get the others quickly." She said, looking to her Ninja-Comm. She unstrapped it from her wrist and began strapping it to Kody's collar. "Alright Kody, go and get the other Rangers OK? Take them my broken Ninja Comm. They'll know what to do."

"So...I'm Lassie now?" Kody asked her.

"Well..."

"Oh boy! I'm just like Lassie!" Kody said excitedly, bounding around. "Don't worry, I'll be back with the others before you know it!"

With that, he ran off into the distance. Hayley just watched him go, before returning to her stretcher.

"Alright, I think this should hold your weight." She commented, rolling Redbot's inert form onto it. She grabbed the handles at one end and lifted it up, but the support struts just fell straight through, dumping Redbot on the ground. She just sighed.

"Well, Calvin's the mechanic." She said, beginning to gather what she could to have a second attempt at making the stretcher. "So this time I guess I need more support struts."

Back at the High School, the preparations for the dance were still underway. Brody was raising the glitterball while Calvin was sweeping. Calvin and Sarah saw Kody running into the school from the front door. They already could see that this was unusual. Kody knew better than to come into the school, he was meant to wait in the yard or in the base while Hayley was at school. They both came over, clapping him reassuringly.

"Kody, what is it boy?" Calvin asked him, checking him over for any signs he had been hurt. He found Hayley's Ninja-Comm on his collar. "It's Hayley's Ninja-Comm."

"It's broken." Sarah said, inspecting it. She already suspected that there was something wrong. There weren't many good reasons for one of the team to turn off or remove their communicator. To find that it didn't work made sense, but it did lead to the question where Hayley was and why she had sent Kody on without her.

"Hayley went into the woods to find Redbot." Brody told them, remembering his conversation with her earlier in the day.

"She must have run into trouble." Sarah concluded. "Why else would she send Kody on ahead?"

"Kody, take us to Hayley!" Calvin instructed the loyal hound. Kody barked as if to acknowledge the command, and sprinted out of the door.

"Hey, Preston!" Brody called out, waving over the Blue Ranger. He tapped his Ninja-Comm to give him the heads-up that it was Ranger business. Putting down the decorations he was carrying, he joined the others as they gathered their things and ran out, hoping that they got to Hayley before whatever had attacked her came back.


	17. Broken Pipes

Hayley was just about to finish construction on her third attempt at a stretcher that would bear Redbot's weight. Although not any taller than an average human, as a result of his construction he did weigh significantly more than someone his size would otherwise indicate. He was easily over 300 pounds, which was why she needed to construct something to make dragging him a little easier to begin with. As she was about to finish though, his eyes started to blink, before turning back to their normal blue colouring.

"Reboot complete." Redbot said, beginning to sit up. Hayley just tossed aside the now redundant stretcher she had been trying to build now for somewhere in the region of an hour.

"Oh my God, Redbot, you're OK!" She gushed as she came around before him, beginning to inspect him. It was a little futile, given her limited mechanical skills she wouldn't really know what to do about it even if something was malfunctioning. All she could see was a couple of scorch marks from where Badpipe's blasts had hit him, and the hole going through his rocket boot that had knocked one of them offline.

"Of course Hayley. I'm so sorry about the rough landing." He responded. Hayley was a little stunned by this at first; Redbot had put himself at risk and taken a fair amount of damage in order to get both of them to safety. If it was anyone else she would imagine they'd be screaming in pain...it took her a moment to remind herself that he was a robot and didn't have pain receptors. He didn't suffer traumatic shock from his 'wounds' like a biological creature. He could have all of his limbs ripped off and most of his body, but unless someone significantly damaged his internal systems, he would continue to function with only the drawback of losing his limbs.

"Rough landing?" Hayley said with a smile. "Redbot, you saved my life! How can I ever thank you?"

"I'm programmed to assist. There's no need to thank me. But it is nice to be appreciated." Redbot declared. "That's the difference between the Rangers and the Warrior Dome. Here, you appreciate me, so I choose to serve you instead of them."

This hit Hayley straight through to her core, it was something she had never even thought about since she had met Redbot. He was a machine, he had central programming, in his case to serve, but to hear him talking about being appreciated and choosing who he wanted to serve...that was beyond her thought of anything a machine was capable of.

A gun would function exactly the same way in the hands of a criminal as it would in the hands of a policeman; it literally had no say and no regard for who used it for its intended purpose. Redbot had left the Warrior Dome, and while she had thought that perhaps he had done so because Mick or Brody had told him to, if they weren't the ones he was programmed to obey, if he was programmed to take his direction straight from the senior staff in the Warrior Dome, would he have been able to leave without their permission? If he wasn't programmed directly to either Brody or Mick, something she doubted as both of them were slaves and providing them with weapons would be considered extremely unwise, the only way he could have left would be by his own decision.

"Then...then it is true. You do have feelings." Hayley gasped, trying to piece it all together. She wasn't sure to what level he had feelings, but if he could understand concepts such as what 'want' was and understanding preferences and concepts like appreciation and gratitude, then he clearly had some level of true feelings. Short of any real direct consequences for his actions, such as reward or punishment, there was no real difference between if Ripcon gave him an order or Brody did...unless he could feel a preference in himself for who he wanted to obey.

"Yes, I do. Brody says that's what makes me special." Redbot told her. Hayley just nodded her head.

"Brody' right...and I was wrong." She said regretfully. "Redbot, I only thought of you as a machine, in the same way as I'd think of the primitive machines we have here as machines. I didn't think that you could be any different to them. In a way I was prejudiced. I'm so sorry I hurt your feelings when you asked me to the dance."

"It's alright, I thought about it while I was walking." Redbot told her. "I suppose it would be a bit strange for you to show up at the dance with a robot."

"Well, yes but...I wish I could say that's all it was." Hayley answered honestly. "I didn't think that you could actually want, well, anything if I'm honest. I didn't take you seriously when you said you wanted to go to the dance and that's on me. I'm sorry Redbot."

"I thank you for your apology." Redbot said as he started to get up. "Now, that tone deaf piper is still around here somewhere, we should get moving."

"Good thinking Redbot." Hayley agreed. "Now you're up and about, we can give this Mega Morph Cycle a shot."

She threw out a Ninja Star which grew and formed up into her cycle. She was impressed by the work that had gone into it, as a joint project between Calvin and Mick, she was sure it would be impressive.

"That's one cool ride! I'm going to have to tell Cal when I see him." Hayley said, morphing and getting onto the bike. Redbot climbed on behind her, holding onto her tightly. "Hold onto your hard drive Redbot! This is going to be quite a ride!"

Just then, they heard some blasts from another part of the wood, and saw some smoke rising above the trees.

"I don't think explosions normally occur naturally." Redbot stated.

"The others must have been looking for me and found Badpipes." Hayley concluded. "Hang on Redbot; we have to put an end to his concert once and for all!"

Elsewhere in the woods, the Rangers were all taking cover, coughing as the smoke cleared from Badpipe's first attack. He had set up an ambush when he had heard them coming, it was only thanks to Kody smelling him before they got there that had given him the advanced warning he needed to alert the Rangers to the danger.

"Kody was warning us! If it wasn't for him, that guy would have toasted us!" Preston said, turning to Kody, beginning to stroke him. "Good boy Kody!"

Kody let out a little whine as Preston touched him though. He couldn't tell through the rest of the burning smell, in the area, but it was only as some of the smoke started to clear, he could see that Kody had taken a hit in his right foreleg, burning him badly. Cavlin cradled him gently.

"Kody's been hit, it looks pretty bad." Calvin told the others. As he touched it, Kody let out a heartbreaking high-pitched whine. "I think his leg is broken. We need to get him to a vet!"

"Sorry boy, but you're going to have to tough it out for now." Sarah said, patting him as gently as she could. "I don't think this guy's going to let us have a medic break."

"Hello Rangers!" Badpipes cackled as the smoke finally cleared enough for them to see. This time though, they could see he had someone else with him, and even before the smoke cleared, they could see it was no mere Kudabot! Brody noticeably tensed up as he recognised the silhouette instantly. He had been his main tormentor for ten years. Ripcon stepped up beside him, looking over the Rangers as he arrived.

"Thanks for letting me tag along Badpipes!" Ripcon declared, looking to the Rangers. "I decided enough is enough. The fans at home deserve a REAL show this time! So now they have a bonus fighter. You're not the only ones allowed a tag team!"

"Ripcon!" Brody snarled as he pulled out his Ninja Sword, bearing down on him.

"Did you miss me Rat Bait?" Ripcon asked him. Brody just smirked.

"Not for a minute!" He told him. "You looked better with your Black Egg facial!"

"You...you hit him with a Black Egg?" Preston asked. A Black Egg was one of the many distraction devices used by ninjas to elude or take out their foes. It was an egg shell that had been hollowed out, and re-filled with another substance before being sealed with wax that would irritate the enemy's vision. In some instances, it would be filled with powdered glass, meaning that as the enemy instinctively blinked to try and promote tears to wash out the irritant, it would move the glass around, scratching the eyeball and making the damage worse. Since he had to work quickly though, Brody had made do with the hottest pepper sauce he could find in the kitchen, another popular choice, creating an early version of a pepper spray. Getting an eyeful of Tabasco sauce was far from a pleasant experience and would hurt for hours afterwards. "No wonder he's pissed at you!"

"Time for me to chime in!" Badpipes declared, positioning his hornpipes under his arm. The Rangers were about to attack, but as he started to play, all of a kind of haze descended in their minds. They couldn't think what they were fighting for, they couldn't think of much at all. All they could do was listen to the haunting music drilling through them, and started to pace towards their enemies, their swords hanging loosely by their sides. Each of them pulled their Power Stars out, and extended their hands out, offering them up to Badpipes.

"It's working, it's working!" Ripcon screeched, seeing this. He used his thumb to shift one of his swords a little out of his scabbard, caressing the handle as he watched the Rangers come towards him. "But the audience paid to see bloodshed, and that's exactly what they always get from Ripcon. I think I'll start with a certain big rat."

"Show's over!" Hayley called out as she rode into view. She could see her friends were under Badpipes' spell, but fortunately she couldn't hear his music very well over the engine of her Mega Morph Cycle. At least, she couldn't hear the frequency that gave him control of their minds. She decided not to take any chances and targeted him first, even though she could see Ripcon was already going for his sword and Brody was only a little more than arm's length. "Plasma Blast!"

Ripcon flew for about thirty feet as the blast hit him, his hornpipes being ripped from his grasp. Just as the spell dissipated, Brody realised the danger he was in just as Ripcon swung for him. He was barely able to get a sword in the way, and tumbled back, quickly finding his feet and getting some distance.

"What happened?" Sarah asked, rubbing her head. "Where...what...who...?"

"That only leaves 'why' and 'when'." Redbot joked. Hayley smirked a little hearing this. She didn't realise he was capable of making jokes, or even understanding what a joke was.

"Hayley, Kody brought us out here, he was hit!" Calvin told her. Hayley looked in horror to where Kody was lying in the grass. She ran over, crouching over her dog.

"Kody, Kody, are you alright? Speak to me boy!" She rushed out. As she did so, her friends all looked to her curiously. Calvin just looked to Sarah.

"Is Hayley...?"

"Cal, I really think we have more important things to worry about right now." Sarah gulped.

"Hayley?" Kody asked her. "The bad thing did this...I can't move my leg...it hurts too much."

"Don't worry boy, he'll be blowing those pipes out the other end by the time I'm finished with him." She assured him. Redbot went to Kody, and gently picked him up.

"I'll get him help." Redbot told her. Hayley just looked to him.

"Redbot, he's hurt bad, he needs a vet..."

"I've done a lot of reading recently. I think I know the basics of how to help him." Redbot assured her. "Anything I don't know I can research quickly. I'm a very fast reader."

Hayley knew this much was true, it didn't take him as long as a human to process new information, and once he had it in his data banks, he didn't need to keep reminding himself like a human. She just nodded.

"Take him to the base; I'll be there as soon as I can." Hayley told him. "Thanks Redbot."

With that, the robot ran away, carrying Kody with him. Hayley and the other Rangers all stared down Ripcon and Badpipes.

"His spell comes from his pipes." Hayley told them. "We need to destroy them!"

The Rangers all broke into a run, heading for the discarded hornpipes, but Ripcon could see them coming. He whipped back his long coat and drew his swords, powering up his attack as dark energy whipped around him.

"Double Sword Doom Strike!" He called out, throwing blasts their way. The Rangers saw the attack coming and morphed, dodging as best they could, but still taking damage. They knew that if Badpipes got a hold of the pipes again, it was unlikely they'd be lucky enough to get a second chance. Hayley put an Element Star into her Ninja Blade, rolling her shoulder as one of the waves hit her.

"Cal, I could use a boost!" She called to her boyfriend. He took a knee, allowing her to spring off his shoulder. She spun the Element Star in her sword and gripped the blade with both hands, coming down just as Badpipes was reaching for them.

"Ninja Element Star, Fire Strike!" She called out. Badpipes had no choice but to pull back as she brought the blade down, utterly destroying the hornpipes. Badpipes just watched them go up in flames.

"NO! My beautiful hornpipes!" Badpipes wailed, pounding the ground in what could only be described as a tantrum.

"Enough of the games and spells! That's not how REAL warriors do things anyway!" Ripcon stated, adopting his guard. "Time to crush you Rangers the way we should have done all along! The old fashioned way!"

"That sounds fine by me Ripcon!" Brody declared. "Because of you Galvanax destroyed my father! I owe you, and it's overdue time to collect!"

"Fine by me Rat Bait!" Ripcon yelled as he ran at him.

"Alright guys, that leaves us with the tone deaf terror." Hayley declared as she saw Badpipes running off. "Come on, he's not getting away with what he did to Kody!"

Meanwhile, up on the Warrior Dome, Cosmo had resumed the broadcast, and it was only now he had seen that Ripcon had gone down to Earth himself. It wasn't that he objected to Badpipes getting a little help, but he hadn't authorised Ripcon to go, and sending a major competitor like him without previous planning was giving away a money match for free! Although Ripcon wasn't much of a draw himself, if booked correctly, he could add just enough spice to a match to tip things over, but by going himself, Ripcon had essentially stolen from him. Every minute he was out there without the proper promotion, Cosmo was losing money, and that was something he couldn't tolerate!

"He had to think on his feet as he saw his monsters breaking the first rule of a tag match; they split up, meaning that now he had to split his broadcast between two separate matches! The audience had a notoriously short attention span, and there was such a thing as over-booking. If they had too many things to concentrate on, then they would become confused and lose track of what interested them. It was one of the main reasons he didn't just throw as many monsters as he could into a match. There came a point where the audience's attention was just overloaded and they lost interest.

By splitting the match into two separate matches, Ripcon had forced the audience to try and keep track of two separate fights, which meant they were becoming confused as to who they were cheering for.

"Wrench, cut the feed to Badpipes." Cosmo said over his communicator.

"You want me to do what?" Wrench asked.

"You heard me, cut the feed to Badpipes!" He told him. "I want all the attention on Ripcon!"

"But...but..."

"Badpipes has already lost the audience; he's already lost his appeal!" Cosmo interrupted him. "Time to cut my losses."

"Alright." Wrench responded. Feed ending in three, two, one...gone!"

A small section of the audience let out sounds of disapproval as the feed on Badpipes died, but he could see it was only a small section of the audience. His gamble had paid off, without his pipes, Badpipes had lost a significant part of his power, and so more of the audience were now more interested in what Ripcon was up to.

"Sorry about that folks, it looks like we're having a few technical issues." Cosmo lied without a hint of remorse whatsoever. "However, it looks like Ripcon; our King of the Katana is giving us a rip-roaring show against the Red Ranger! Prepare for the grudge match of the ages folks! Here we GO!"


	18. Grudge Match

Hayley, Calvin, Preston and Sarah followed Badpipes as he ran, clearing some space for Ripcon. As much as Ripcon, a strong contender for the championship, had come to help him, he knew that the swordsman didn't play well with others, and was much happiest working alone. Even taking care of the Red Ranger for him to cut the numbers from five on one to four on one was a helping hand he was happy to take.

"He's reached the beach!" Sarah called out, seeing him heading towards the water. "He's got nowhere else to run!"

"Who said anythin' about runnin' ya pink tumshie?" He asked as he turned around and a massive fan appeared in his hands. They all skidded, trying to stop, realising that he had led them into a surprise attack, a tactic commonly known as a 'chicken run'. Brody had explained to them once that a ninja who had been tasked with killing a particularly brutal Samurai had once done so by taunting him into a fight by openly carrying a sword, an act that was forbidden for commoners in that shogunate. When the Samurai challenged him to a duel, he had run away, angering him further and causing him to give chase. He then stopped suddenly, causing the Samurai to run into the back of him, unable to stop. What he hadn't noticed was that the ninja had drawn his sword and was holding the point out behind him. The Samurai had effectively impaled himself with his own momentum and rashness. "Meet my biggest fan!"

The Rangers all flew off their feet, hitting the ground as he whipped up a powerful wind with the fan. They could all only count their lucky stars that all he had done was generate a wind attack. With Brody's story fresh in her mind, Sarah knew it could have been much worse.

"My music career is really taking off!" Badpipes declared taking off and flying into the air.

"He flies too?" Calvin complained as he circled around, coming back towards them.

"Of COURSE he flies!" Hayley shot back. "Can't you see the wings?"

"Turkeys have wings and they can't fly!" Calvin answered.

"Have you heard my greatest hits?" Badpipes cackled as he came back, slamming into Calvin and Hayley. "One goes like THIS...and another goes like THIS!"

As he took down Sarah and Preston, they just groaned.

"Is anyone starting to miss the pipe music?" Preston asked them as he landed.

"I am Badpipes! The greatest performer in all of...!" He started to roar, striking a powerful pose, but his words tailed off as he noticed something. "Wait...what? Where...WHERE ARE ALL THE CAMERAS?"

He started running around, hunting for the Buzz-cams, trying to find where he would play to in order to whip up his audience, but looking around, he couldn't see any. Sarah did a quick scan herself and realised the same thing.

"Guys, there aren't any cameras." Sarah told them. "It looks like Cosmo's cut him loose!"

"He probably thinks Ripcon is a bigger draw." Preston suggested.

"Whatever, he's distracted!" Calvin said as he pulled out his morpher, turning it to Claw Mode. "While he's distracted, what do you say we clip his wings?"

"You read my mind!" Hayley said, showing him her own morpher. They both broke into a run, heading straight for Badpipes, who was still hunting for the cameras. He screamed aloud as they sliced into him and his wings fell from his back, flopping to the ground uselessly.

"My wings! First my pipes and now my beautiful wings!" He whined, spinning around and knocking both of them down with his fan. "You're going to pay for that!"

"Good news, he can't fly anymore!" Calvin grumbled as they rolled away, leaving the way clear for Preston and Sarah to take over to keep him occupied. "Bad news, he is SUPER pissed!"

Back in the woods, Brody and Ripcon were locked in a deadly battle, one that echoed through the still forest for miles around. Brody had always fantasised about having the opportunity to destroy Ripcon. It was Ripcon's distraction, grabbing Brody that had led to Dane losing sight of Galvanax, and allowing the champion to take the advantage, striking him down. Ripcon was as responsible for his father's destruction as Galvanax was, and was firmly on Brody's list, right up there with the champion himself.

His every waking moment had been filled with thoughts on seeing Ripcon fall before him. His dreams had been filled with fantasies of revenge for ten long years, being the whetting stone against which he trained, forging himself into the deadly weapon he was now. The only reason he'd not taken out Ripcon before now was he knew it was unwise to go after him. Slaves were never allowed access to weapons, and while he had been able to fashion a few crude tools and weapons, he knew that they were no match for Ripcon's expertly forged katana. The battle would have been short, and ultimately futile. Now though, with the power of the Ninja Power Star behind him, he had longed for his chance to take Ripcon down for good.

Unfortunately that was easier said than done. Ripcon had not gotten his position on the Warrior Dome through politics or subterfuge. He never held any regard for currying favour or talking up his position. He had gotten his position through the collective blood of thousands of victims the length and breadth of the universe. He always knew that taking on Ripcon would be a tall order, even with his Ranger powers.

He was proven right VERY quickly! Ripcon moved with a speed that was beyond lightning fast. Brody was quick himself, but he had trouble even seeing his attacks coming. Blocking one of Brody's swipes, Ripcon scored yet another couple of strikes. Brody's suit was already struggling, and he was smoking from all the areas his suit's energy had stopped him being sliced apart. Ripcon levelled one of his swords at Brody as the Red Ranger got some distance.

"Not going how you expected?" Ripcon asked him. "I've always hated you Rat Bait! If it was up to me, we'd have fed you to the Skullgators the day we took you!"

"It'd be preferable to having to look at you!" Brody snapped back, readjusting his grip on his Ninja Sword. "You and Galvanax took everything from me! You took my life! I'm going to take yours!"

"It's right here if you want it!" Ripcon taunted him, gesturing him forward. "Let's see if you really are a Master Ninja like your dad!"

Up on the Warrior Dome, Cosmo was beside himself with glee. He had seen the turn in the audience from the switch of focus, and now there wasn't a single butt in a seat! Every single fan in the arena was on their feet screaming themselves hoarse! Ripcon had rarely been involved in a match that generated buzz from more than the small section of fans that considered themselves "Smart fans" or "purists", who preferred straight combat and skill to the flash and spectacle of the show, but here...he had found a winning formula!

The Rangers were already a top draw. It didn't matter which one of them was on a screen, there would quickly be a crowd around it. It didn't matter if it was a blurry picture on a t-shirt; he wouldn't be able to keep it on the merchandise stands if he nailed it down! The Rangers were a massive draw that he could put up against a mop and be guaranteed a huge ratings bump. Putting one of them against a powerful foe like Ripcon, a monster who many had supported for a title push was a step he could have seen would generate a buzz, but as the battle went on, he could see it had so much more.

He loved how vocal they both were, it spun a tale, a tale it seemed that the audience had picked up on, and it had everything! It was personal, it was raw, it was gritty...it was shaping up to be a grudge match that piqued the imagination of everyone in the studio audience, and he was certain once he consulted with Odious...wherever she was...and Wrench, he would find the home numbers were just as impressive!

"Did you hear that folks! This battle is as personal as it gets!" Cosmo screamed, whipping up interest in it. "Ripcon has the Red Ranger on the ropes, will he finish him off? Will he add a second member of the Romero family to his casualty list?"

"Uh...sir...Galvanax was the one that finished his father." He heard a production worker say in his earpiece.

"I know that and you know that, but they don't!" Cosmo whispered as he saw Brody taking more punishment. "You...you almost missed that! Get the cameras, every available Buzz-cam!"

"But sir..."

"Facts are whatever I say they are! The audience won't know any better!" Cosmo told him. "Just concentrate on the cameras! If you miss a second of this, I'm having you muck out the Skullgators' pen...with them still in it!"

"Y...y...yes sir!" He stammered, calling up more Buzz-cams. Cosmo just flinched as he watched Brody try and fail to take the upper hand, taking a blow that he was almost sure was going to take his head off his shoulders...only to be a little relieved when he saw he was still alive! The audience was far too into this match for it to end now! He was already planning on the follow-up.

"Ooh, that HAS to hurt!" Cosmo declared. "Unless the Red Ranger has a trick up his sleeve, this could be the last time we see him with any arms for those sleeves!"

Back on the beach, the rest of the team was still struggling with Badpipes. The monster no longer had his pipes, so his powerful spell was no longer a problem, but it was clear he was strong beyond that anyway. The fact that he now knew his battle wasn't even being broadcast had enraged him, and he was now taking all that out on the Rangers.

"I'm going to stick my nose where it doesn't belong!" He called out as his nose extended, striking Preston square in the chest. He continued to launch his attack, taking down Sarah and Calvin in short order. Hayley though saw it coming, and had a surprise prepared for him.

"You know if you stick your nose where it doesn't belong..." She began, slipping just to the side so it went past and hooking it under her arm. She brought up her Power Claw. "...don't be surprised when it gets BROKEN!"

She brought the weapon down, snapping the pipe clean off his face. Badpipes started staggering around.

"By Dose! You hab by dose!" He whined as he clutched his face. Calvin stood next to her, smiling.

"If we ever have kids, remind me not to let you play 'got your nose'." He teased her.

"Hey, it's not like it'll make him any uglier." She replied, tossing the pipe aside. Preston and Sarah both pulled out their morphers, converting them to bow mode.

"This is yours Hayley." Sarah told her. "You lead us off!"

Hayley and Calvin also converted their morphers to bow mode, taking careful aim at Badpipes.

"FINAL STRIKE!" They called out, opening fire. In a hail of energy arrows, Badpipes started to spark and slumped to his knees.

"This really blows!" He called out as he fell forward and exploded on the ground. Hayley just smiled.

"Show's over, Ninjas Win!" She declared. Sarah tapped her on the shoulder.

"Um...Hayley? There are no cameras." She reminded her. "Who are you talking to?"

"Oh...force of habit I guess." She answered. "Come on guys, we need to help Brody!"

With that, they ran, pulling up Brody's location on their Ninja Comms, hoping that they weren't already too late.

Back at their battle, Ripcon and Brody were certainly giving the audience a show for the ages! The only thing that was unfortunate was that it wasn't on pay-per-view, but as they struggled for position, each of them aiming to get that one decisive blow, they were lighting up the screen for everyone watching.

Brody had managed to rally, getting some telling blows in on Ripcon, who was starting to see that he had been more than a little dismissive of the young Ninja. He had known that Brody was practicing and like most slaves had harboured dreams of freedom, but he had treated it as a joke. Humans were physically among the most fragile intelligent species in the universe, and it never occurred to him that the scrawny little brat he had dragged away from his home could grow to be a credible threat to him. Brody had done a masterful job of concealing just how strong he had actually become, and right now it was serving him well.

Ripcon though managed to get through his guard and kicked him in the chest, knocking Brody down. Brody went to retrieve his sword, but Ripcon put his foot on his chest, stopping him moving.

"Is this really the best you can do?" Ripcon asked him. "Are you really a Master Ninja? This is embarrassing! Without any of your fancy little tricks and dirty tactics, in a fair fight, you can't beat me Rat Bait!"

"That's not much incentive for me to fight fair then is it?" Brody responded, at which an explosion went off, sending smoke billowing out. Ripcon coughed and flailed around, trying to clear his vision, before driving his swords down, into his chest. It was only as the smoke finally cleared though; he saw that he was standing on a straw dummy! He was baffled; he hadn't even felt Brody moving!

"What the...?"

Brody came rushing out of cover, and Ripcon only barely noticed him before it was too late. He kicked the dummy up between them, which Brody sliced through but he ran face-first into Ripcon's next attack.

"Double Blade Doom Slash!" He called out, throwing his power waves at Brody. The Red Ranger hit the ground and de-morphed, leaving him vulnerable. Ripcon tried to show strength, to make it look like the fight had been effortless, but he was well aware that Brody had taken a fair bit out of him. He gripped his swords tightly, seeking to finish him before giving him an opportunity to recover. While he was sure that Cosmo would be all for a second round, Ripcon didn't see the need in risking another battle if he didn't need to.

"Say hi to your dad for me!" Ripcon told him, but as he raised his sword, he was struck in the chest by a few blasts, winding him and driving him to his knees. The rest of the team all arrived, levelling their blasters at him. Ripcon could see that his advantage was lost, there was nothing to be gained taking on the whole team now when he was already worn down.

"You hide behind your friends Rat Bait!" Ripcon snarled as he got up. "We'll do this again another time!"

With that, he disappeared. Sarah stared at the blaster.

"Damn it, we almost had him." She grumbled. "If only these things had a little more kick! Maybe if I could channel a Ninja Star through them..."

"Sarah, a wise ninja knows never to 'what if' a battle that they walk away from." Brody said as Preston helped him up, starting to catch his breath. "If you walk away, it's a good fight."

"Show's over, Ninjas WIN!" Hayley called out as she saw a Buzz-cam. The others all stared at her. "What? There was no cameras the last time!"

"I...guess that's fair." Brody answered.

Meanwhile, up on the Warrior Dome, as Ripcon teleported back, landing in a crumpled heap on the floor, Cosmo was quickly by his side.

"You saw him folks, the man who took the Red Ranger to the limit, RIPCON!" Cosmo called out. "And I'm sure you all are waiting with baited breath, just as I am, for the re-match of the grudge match of the AGES!"

They all cheered as Ripcon was helped to his feet, and taken from the stage. Cosmo looked out to the audience.

"Now, as for Badpipes, what say you?" He asked. The crowd let their feelings be known. Most of them had forgotten he was even IN the fight, much less knew of his demise. Others were angered and disappointed in his performance and loathed him with a vengeance. Others still were so enthralled by the Ripcon/Brody match that they saw Badpipes purely as a distraction that they didn't want or need. All taken together, the boos were deafening. Cosmo smiled, knowing that he had saved a potential disaster and set up another masterful draw. The fact it meant he had all the excuse he needed to leave Badpipes, the monster that humiliated him in front of his own audience on the scrap heap of history was just an added bonus! "Aw...too bad, Badpipes seems to have blown his last note. Still, the show must go on, and you know what that means?"

"SKULLGATOR!" The Audience called out. Cosmo twirled his cane, before smashing it down on the button on his console.

"Whatever my audience wants, my audience gets!" Cosmo answered. "There's no rest for the wicked Rangers, make no BONES about that!"

 **A/N:** Yes, I've changed it, Badpipes doesn't get a second go. This is purely story-related. There's no bias there at all...honest! *whistles innocently*.


	19. Odious Intent

Hayley rushed to the Ranger base, followed a little way by the other Rangers. Hayley had been the one to finish off the Skullgator, desperate to finish the battle quickly. It wasn't because of the dance, right now the school dance couldn't be the furthest thing from her mind. Right now, all she could think about was Kody.

Kody had bravely fetched her friends to help against Badpipes, and he had paid a heavy price for it. She looked around, finding Kody lying on the table, with Redbot watching over him.

"Kody!" She called out, rushing over to his side. "How are you boy?"

"Please tell me you took down that monster." Kody grumbled. Hayley smiled and nodded.

"He's not going to bother anyone again." She assured him. She looked up to Redbot. "How is he?"

"His leg is definitely broken; he's going to have to go to a vet." Redbot told her. "I could probably have re-set the bone and dressed it myself, but when I scanned him I found screws and plates from a previous..."

"He got those the day I found him." Hayley told Redbot. "A car side-swiped him and left him on the side of the road. I took him to a vet. When I realised he hadn't been chipped and didn't have any ID on him I knew he was a stray and I took him in."

"Well since he has had surgical repairs before I really can't work on them. He'll need a proper surgeon." Redbot told her. Hayley looked to Kody, who was resting on the table.

"You're going to have to go back to the vet boy." She told him. "I know you hate it, but..."

"Hey, if it's that or lose the leg, I'll gladly go." Kody grumbled. Hayley just stroked him reassuringly. "There's no way I'm going to be known as tripod for the rest of my days."

She smiled and stroked him, cuddling him, before looking to her friends and smiling. "Kody's going to need to go to the vet for surgery." She told them. "But he's in good spirits; he's actually joking about it."

"J...joking?" Mick asked her, looking at her curiously. Hayley realised what the situation looked like and realised why her friends were staring at her. She took a deep breath.

"OK guys, I just found out something pretty wild." She told them. "I didn't tell you because I was getting freaked out, but...I've been hearing voices."

"Voices?" Preston asked her. Calvin looked incredibly worried.

"I know, I was freaked out too, but today I figured it out. The one voice I've been hearing most often, that I've been hearing all the time, it was always when Kody was around. Today I finally made the connection. It was Kody!" She told them. The Rangers just continued to stare blankly at her. "Guys...I can hear Kody! I also heard some stuff when Preston's rabbit peed on Victor. Guys, it's the Ninja Steel, it has to be! I can understand animals!"

"Um...OK?" Brody asked.

"And he can understand me! I was just talking to him right now!" She told them. That was when there was some uncomfortable shifting around the others as they looked like they were trying to figure out how to say something. "What?"

"Um, Hayley, when we came in...you were barking." Calvin told her. Hayley just laughed.

"Barking? You're telling me I was barking?" She asked him. "No, I was just talking to Kody, like I'm talking to you right now!"

"No, you were definitely barking." Sarah said. "We...um...we all heard you!"

"I think I'd know if I was barking." Hayley chuckled, looking to Kody. "Wouldn't I boy?"

"Hayley, you're definitely barking." Kody told her. "It's about time you stopped talking all that human gibberish. I can finally talk to you!"

Hayley shot up as she stared at him, pointing between Kody and the others.

"Wait...Kody says I'm barking too." Hayley said, seeing the others all nodding. "What's happening?"

"Wait a minute, Hayley, do you remember that guy you bumped into in the lunch line the other day?" Sarah asked her. "The um...the deaf one?"

"Yeah, I remember." Hayley stated.

"You said you weren't using sign language, but you definitely were!" Sarah told her. "I saw you! You were using sign language, but you said you weren't, just like you said you weren't barking right now!"

"So you're trying to say that I can speak different languages and I don't even realise it?" She asked him. Mick looked to her.

"OK, there's an easy way to resolve this." He told her, looking at her. "I'm going to say something and I want you to respond with the first thing that comes into your head alright?"

"OK." She answered. He took her by the shoulders, and looked to the other Rangers, before looking back to her.

"Kehsetreebooh muhk-hay-yoo?" The other Rangers heard Mick asked. Hayley just looked confused.

"Nahsetreebooh, muhk-haya Hayley." They heard her reply. The other Rangers all looked really impressed. "Guys, what's the big deal? He just asked what my name was."

"I asked what your name was in ANDRESIAN." He pointed out.

"You know Andresian?" Preston asked him.

"We had some slaves on the ship a while back, I picked up a few things." Mick said with a shrug. "The thing is, Andresian as a language is not commonly spoken on Earth. There's only one settlement on the other side of the state. There are less than a thousand people worldwide that speak it, so I knew there's almost no way Hayley could have any previous knowledge of Andresian."

"So what? I can now speak any language?" Hayley asked.

"I think...kind of yes and no." Mick told her. "You were able to speak Andresian after hearing me speak it. You were able to use sign language after seeing someone else use it. I think that if you hear or see someone communicating in another language, your brain starts to make the connections allowing you to understand it and respond appropriately, even if you aren't consciously aware you're doing it!"

"So I can't just understand Kody, I can LITERALLY speak dog?" Hayley asked him. "But to me it sounds like he's speaking English, and when I speak to him even though I think I'm speaking English, I'm speaking dog?"

"That's about the size of it." He concluded.

"And the reason she was freaked out hearing those voices but we weren't wasn't because she was hearing voices, but because we all heard the SAME voice, namely Kody's." Sarah surmised. "Only Hayley heard it in English while we just heard the barks we normally do."

"Exactly!" Mick concluded. "You know, perception is a very tricky thing. Sometimes people see one thing while another thing is true."

"Yeah, and...I guess I learned that too." Hayley said sadly, looking to Redbot. "Redbot, I'm sorry for what I said. I dismissed you as a machine, I didn't think of you having feelings and I didn't take it seriously when you wanted to take me to the dance."

"Say...what now?" Calvin asked.

"I really shouldn't have dismissed you the way I did." Hayley told him. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"That's quite alright." Redbot assured her.

"Um...hello, um..." Calvin said, interjecting into the conversation. "Redbot, you asked Hayley to the dance?"

"Why yes!" Redbot told him.

"Redbot, you do know that Hayley's my girlfriend right?" Calvin asked him.

"Yes, of course I do!" Redbot told him. "I just wanted to dance!"

"Oh...right." Calvin said, trying to look casual. "Um...that's cool, I guess."

"We should really get Kody to the vet." Hayley stated, beginning to wrap Kody up in a blanket and carefully pick him up. "The rest of you should still go to the dance."

"It's fine, we should all..."

"No, there's really not room for you all in the truck." Calvin answered. "Besides, if he does need surgery, there's nothing you can really do when he's in there."

"Well...as long as you're sure." Sarah said sympathetically, patting Kody gently.

"We'll call you when you can check on him." Hayley assured them. "He'll love all the attention."

"Too damn right I will." Kody told her. "I'm expecting lots of toys and hugs!"

Hayley just laughed.

"What did he just say?" Sarah asked her.

"I'll tell you later." She answered. "Come on Calvin."

With that, Hayley and Calvin took Kody to get the treatment he needed, leaving Mick, Brody, Preston, Sarah and Redbot behind. Sarah looked to the others and sighed.

"I don't know about you but I'm really not in the mood for the school dance." She commented.

"I guess we've seen Victor make enough of an ass of himself for one day." Brody agreed.

"But I still really want to dance." Redbot commented. Preston just looked to the others.

"Well...how about we have our own dance party right here?" He asked. "I know none of us feel much like partying, but at least if it's here it's just us and we can do what we feel like right?"

"Sounds good to me." Brody answered. "A quiet party with friends sounds ideal."

"Well, I have a couple of projects I want to work on, but they can wait." Sarah answered, pointing to Mick. "How about it Mick, fancy cranking up those tunes?"

"Well it's better than being around Hastings all night." Mick told them. "She's been hassling me to chaperone the dance all week."

"She has?" Brody asked him.

"Yeah, asked me about four times a day." Mick answered. "She even offered to get me a suit when I told her I didn't have anything to wear other than this."

"Oh, she did, did she?" Preston said with a sly grin on his face.

"Yeah, wanted to know where and when she could pick me up actually." Mick told them. "That was a little awkward to answer since she doesn't know I live here. She's been pretty..."

"Mick...I really don't think she wanted a chaperone." Sarah said with a smirk. Mick just looked confused.

"Really, because that's what she was asking me to..."

"Yeah, Mick? You know what you were saying about perspectives before?" Brody said as he put an arm around his friend, leading him to the corner as he started up the music, beginning the party. Redbot, Sarah and Preston all got up to dance. While they were worried about Kody, and none of them felt like making much of a fuss, a night of blowing off steam with friends after a hard battle was just what the doctor ordered.

Meanwhile, up on the Warrior Dome, Cosmo was in his office with Odious, Ripcon, Galvanax and Wrench, going over the events of that nights' broadcast. Cosmo had the figures before him and with the exception of a sharp dip in ratings from the previous week at the beginning; he had clawed back a decent return.

"In the third quarter of the broadcast, the numbers..."

"I am SICK of hearing of your numbers!" Galvanax roared as a Kudabot came in, carrying a cocktail for Cosmo and a cigar. He rounded on Ripcon, grabbing him by one of his horns. "Your monster had the Rangers under his spell! Your interference cost me the Power Stars!"

"It wasn't MY fault boss!" Ripcon protested. "Badpipes lost his grip on the Rangers before I did anything!"

"So what are you saying? Are you saying the monster YOU picked was incompetent?" Madame Odious said in a casual drawl. "Or that YOU couldn't assist him when you were standing right there?"

"Screw up one more time and you know what'll happen!" Galvanax yelled as he grabbed the Kudabot. Cosmo was quick enough to save his cocktail, while Wrench grabbed the cigar. Galvanax punched the Kudabot, which exploded on impact, before storming away. "Fail me again Ripcon and you'll be next!"

"You know, I have to wonder, are you just incompetent?" Madame Odious asked as she prepared to leave. "Or...hmm...is it possible there's a reason you'd want to..."

"Are you accusing me of something?" Ripcon screamed, going for his katana. Cosmo just interjected between them.

"Listen, whatever is going on between you two is entirely your business!" Cosmo told them.

"I was only saying..."

"And I'M only saying that if you have an accusation to make, bring it to me on formal channels and I'll be more than happy to hear your evidence." Cosmo stated. Odious just bowed, before slinking out of the office. Ripcon just sneered.

"So glad you saw straight through..."

"Ripcon, you delivered me the hottest rivalry in years! You've created a money-match for the ages and I am NOT blowing that on baseless accusations!" Cosmo interrupted him. "If Odious had something on you, if you really were trying to bring down the show then I'd see you reduced to a footnote and forget about you forever seconds later!"

"WHAT?" Ripcon screamed. "How dare...?"

"You get the benefit of the doubt Ripcon, but don't make me regret that!" Cosmo snapped at him. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a pay-per-view schedule to organise. In the meantime, I suggest you get ready for the second round with the Red Ranger!"

Ripcon let out a frustrated yell, before storming from the room, leaving Cosmo and Wrench alone together. Wrench came across, offering Cosmo the cigar.

"I don't trust..."

"Believe me my boy; I don't trust any of them." Cosmo said as he popped the cigar in his mouth and gestured to Wrench to light it. "Odious is up to something, I just know it, but I've been doing this way too long to be taken for a ride."

"You don't trust...?"

"My boy, I literally wouldn't be in this job if I didn't play the game better than anyone else." Cosmo told him. "Believe me, there is NOTHING they can come up with that will take me by surprise!"

He looked to Wrench as he just nodded wordlessly. Cosmo smiled.

"Now, how about I pick that brain of yours about your...previous experience?" He asked.

"Of...of course!" Wrench stammered. Cosmo knew all about Wrench's time on Sledge's crew, and more importantly his battles with the previous teams.

"We've tried a few things now with...shall we say...mixed success." He stated. "Tell me, what worked best in your tenure?"

"Well...my technology of course!" Wrench stated. "But I was always pipped to the post by their mentor, some uppity blonde scientist always spoiling my plans...and Sledge was always too cheap to update our technology, if I'd had access to..."

"My boy, where do you think you are now?" Cosmo asked him, panning his arms around as he crossed his feet up on his desk. "Tell me, if you had access to the best tech available, what would you do?"

"I'd find that annoying little human and..."

"Your grudge can wait. You can execute half the population of the planet for all I care once you're done." Cosmo told him. "What would you do?"

"An army is only as good as its weapons." Wrench stated. "I'd turn their weapons against them."

"My boy, I think I may have just the man in mind." Cosmo said, gesturing to him to sit down. "Tell me more!"

Meanwhile, in another part of the ship, Madame Odious approached one of her hidden doors, pulling out her hammer and activating it, after ensuring she wasn't being watched. Stepping inside, she made her way to her secret lab.

Inside, she found her captive, still strapped into her machine.

"Ripcon's failure is playing right into my hands my little prisoner." She told him, knowing full well that he couldn't hear her. The helmet on his head blocked all visual and auditory stimuli, other than what she wanted him to see and hear from her programming. Altering the mind of any creature was a delicate process, one that had tremendous potential to go disastrously wrong. The human mind in particular was incredibly fragile, and she had to check on her progress constantly to find out if her programming was strong enough to have the desired effect, but without completely destroying his mind.

"Hmm...your vital signs appear to be stable, I guess you're in pretty good shape...and I've not burned out your brain cells yet. I guess you're fortunate for that much." She stated. Her process was slow going, she'd had to keep him in the ship now for weeks and monitor him. If she pushed too hard, the best case scenario was his mind wouldn't be able to handle the new programming and she'd turn him into a lunatic or a drooling, comatose vegetable. Worst case scenario was that the physical structure of his brain wouldn't be able to handle the power going through it and she'd blow it out, killing him. She wasn't overly concerned for his welfare, but she didn't believe in killing off her subjects too quickly, even some of her rejects could be used in further study.

She checked the upload, and the system she had in place for checking it was taking hold. It was one thing to present someone with new information, it was quite another to make sure they believed it.

"The transfer is almost complete, and your new programming is going well." She told him, before going to the machine and opening up a compartment. Inside, was the Gold Power Star. She took it and inspected it with an evil grin on her face.

"Soon none of them will know what hit them." She declared. "Rest well my little subject. Soon, it'll all be over!"


	20. A Full Workload

Sarah was in her room, working hard as usual. It was pretty much the norm for her to disappear into her room following dinner; her parents understood that the final years of school pretty much set her up with all her options for university. She didn't have many worries about getting in, she'd received offers for scholarships from a few since she was fourteen, but the harder she worked, the more doors opened up and the more exciting options around the country and even the world opened up for her.

Sarah was a bright girl, she always had been, but especially the last couple of years she had become more and more obsessed with achievements and bolstering her applications for colleges. She already had unconditional offers from some of the best, Yale, Harvard, St Andrews, Oxford...but any she hadn't received offers from she almost took as a challenge and looked into whatever they looked for in candidates to make her application more appealing.

She wasn't working on her High School homework; she had finished with that ages ago. The truth was if she wanted, she could probably skip the rest of school, but her parents weren't keen on her going to university too young. Her parents had told her that college was the best time of their lives and greatly opened up their minds to the world, but whenever the subject came up about her going early, they always became quickly quiet and would only say that a some life experience was a good thing too and that they thought a couple more years' growth could help her deal with some of the strange new things she would see and hear in college.

She had to smirk at that. Strange new things? Inside the last year, she had assisted the Dino Charge Rangers in their battles in Amber Beach, and after the move had ended up becoming a Ranger herself. Since she'd already had her body switched with a monster, helped create a Zord, fought aliens and been swallowed by a giant spider...she wondered what exactly college or university could throw at her that would be 'unusual'. Still, she wasn't working on her school work, right now; she was working on a weapon for her team.

Well, it wasn't a NEW weapon, it was the Ninja Blasters they already had, but in their last battle, when they had used their blasters on Ripcon, it had occurred to her that they weren't powerful enough to put him down. They had lucked out when he had fled the battle, but Sarah didn't believe in leaving things to luck more than once. If their blasters had a little more kick...perhaps if they found themselves with a shot again they could take him down.

Their swords and their morphers channelled the power of Ninja Power Stars, and she saw no real reason why the blasters couldn't do the same. It would just take a little work to do so. Or at least, that was what she thought when she burnt out the circuit boards the first time when the power output was too high. Now, her room was covered in notes and equations as she tried to figure out the best way to harness the power without turning whoever pulled the trigger to charcoal.

Sarah had always had a very science and technology inclined thought process. She had scores of notebooks all over her room that were nothing to do whatsoever with her schoolwork. Some of them never bore any fruit, being long-forgotten while others had ended up becoming some of her greatest creations, such as her hoverboard which as far as anyone knew was possibly the only one in existence. When she ran out of space or didn't have a notebook to hand, that was when the post-its and random notes came into play. While most teenagers had posters on their walls of their favourite pop stars or movie stars, Sarah's walls were covered with random notes pinned to the walls, some connected with pieces of coloured yarn. Her dad often joked that it looked like something from a serial killer's lair in a movie but he was a little concerned that now at times he forgot what her wallpaper looked like!

There was a ringing from her computer, but she didn't look up from her blaster.

"Go for Sarah." She said, utilising a programme of her own design to activate the Skype link by voice command. "Dr Morgan I presume."

"You know at some point you're going to have to come up with another joke." Kendall answered. "I saw your message; I got in contact as soon as I could."

"Are things busy at the museum?" She asked.

"Not exactly, I'm in Millport at the moment." She answered. Sarah just smiled and turned to the computer.

"Millport?" She asked. "Spending Thanksgiving with the future in-laws?"

"Well, yes, that and getting the lay of the land." Kendall told her. "It's really not THAT far of a drive to Amber Beach from here, so I was thinking of getting a place out here."

"Really?" Sarah asked her. "I never thought of you as a country girl."

"Matt wanted to stick close to his mom. I did try to convince him we should get the Romero place, but the locals are all really superstitious about it." Kendall told her. "After the Romeros disappeared, they said it was cursed, that's why no one else has bought it."

"They're not far wrong." Sarah said with a shrug. "Listen...I've got a few ideas how to improve our blasters, I was looking for a second opinion on them."

Sarah clicked a button to send a message to Kendall. She started to look over it, but furrowed her brows.

"Um...Sarah, I don't think this is the right thing." Kendall told her. "It seems to be a message from your principal."

Sarah checked her e-mail and realised her mistake.

"Oh, sorry that was the wrong message." She stated. "Principal Hastings was reminding me I need to hurry up and sign up for extra-curriculars; they're closing sign-up this week."

"There's quite a lot here." Kendall told her. "Have you had any thoughts which you'd like to do?"

"I don't know, I'll probably just pick three, maybe four." Sarah said with a shrug.

"You're thinking of doing FOUR extra-curricular activities?" Kendall asked her. "Wow, talk about ambitious!"

"So says the woman with six Masters Degrees and a PhD at 27." Sarah teased her.

"True, but...um...Sarah, what is all that on the walls behind you?" She asked.

"Oh, just a few notes." Sarah answered. "Look, are you really wanting to talk about my interior decorating or can I get you to look over these?"

"Sure." Kendall said as she received the correct e-mail from Sarah. She started to look through it. "Alright, this is a little awkward because I haven't really studied how your Ninja Stars work, but at my best guess, I'd say that you're on the right track."

"Yeah, as long as I don't mind blowing my arm off when I pull the trigger." Sarah stated. "The power output burned out the first attempt; if I'd caused an explosion my parents would have killed me!"

"Yeah, the problem with power output is the return force." Kendall said sagely. "Believe me, I know all about harsh recoil."

"So, any ideas?" Sarah asked her. Kendall started stroking her chin as she thought about it.

"Well...have you considered a dampening field?" Kendall asked her. "It could help prevent blow-back..."

"But it would also restrict the range." Sarah concluded. Kendall just looked into the screen.

"It's a pistol, not a sniper rifle." Kendall reminded her. "How far are you likely to be from your enemy when you use it?"

"Not far enough, but that's the nature of the business I guess." Sarah answered. Just then, the door opened behind Kendall and a figure walked in. A Stetson was placed over Kendall's head as Matt kissed her on the cheek.

"Hey there, I thought we agreed no working over the holidays." He said to Kendall.

"It's not work, it's..." Kendall started to say.

"WHOA!" Sarah called out as Matt pulled off his shirt, covering her eyes. It was only then that Matt realised that Kendall wasn't working, but was on a Skype call.

"S...S...Sarah, hi!" Matt stammered, forcing a smile. "Um...how are you?"

"Grateful you stopped at the shirt!" Sarah replied. "I understand congratulations are in order."

"Oh, um...yeah, thanks!" Matt answered. "Yeah, we were talking about it for a while, and now that Kendall's looking at buying some land out here, I'll be looking at building a place."

"Wait...you're going to build a house?" Sarah asked.

"Well, yeah, there aren't any places on the market out here." Matt told her.

"Other than the Romero place." Kendall reminded him. Matt noticeably shuddered at the mention of it. Even though he was young when the Romeros disappeared without a trace, there was still a lot of mystique about the whole incident. Most of the kids would dare each other to go into their land, like a local haunted house...but the bravest of them only ever managed to get as far as the front door of the house before running away. Certainly no one in town ever contemplated buying it!

"Yeah...that's not happening." He told her. "Besides, there's something very frontier spirit about it you know? Building your own home with your own hands? I kind of like the idea."

"Well congratulations both of you." Sarah told them. "I'm expecting an invite to that wedding!"

"Yeah, we should manage that." Kendall answered as Matt put his arm around her. "Let me know if there's anything I can help with...oh, and try not to spread yourself too thin."

"What's that meant to mean?" Sarah asked her.

"School, extracurricular activities, Ranger duties?" She listed. "There's only one of you Sarah. You don't want to spread yourself too thin."

As Kendall signed off, Sarah heard the door open behind her. She hurriedly pulled a sheet over her blaster and turned to look at her dad as he came in.

"Sarah, I saw the light on...you're still awake?" He asked her.

"Obviously." She answered. "I just have to finish..."

"Whatever it is, you can finish it tomorrow." He told her. "It's time for bed."

"Dad, you can't impose curfew on me, I'm still in the house." She chuckled.

"You also have school tomorrow." He reminded her. "It's eleven thirty!"

"It is?" Sarah asked, turning to look at her alarm clock. She sighed as she realised he was right, she had completely lost track of time. Her dad came over to her and put his arm around her.

"When you're at college, you'll have more than your fair share of all-nighters, but right now that brain of yours needs rest." He told her. "All this extra-credit stuff is commendable, but not at the expense of your well-being."

"Dad..."

"Hey, take it from someone that knows a little something about not taking care of himself." Her father stated. "Take care of yourself. There's no point being the smartest person in the room if you're too run down to do anything. Good night."

"Good night." Sarah answered as he left the room. Sarah shut down her computer and started to get ready for bed, but something kept playing over and over again in her mind. Two people she cared about had reminded her that there was only one of her, and that she could only accomplish so much. She looked around for something to write on. She knew her dad meant well, that he only wanted her to get the rest she needed and take care of herself, but if she could pull this off, she would have all the rest she wanted!

Up on the Warrior Dome, Cosmo took Wrench through the ship.

"Mr Cosmo sir, are you sure about this?" Wrench asked him. "I'm not a talent scout, my expertise is engineering..."

"Wrench my boy; you have expertise in a lot of areas. I didn't hire you because you know how to work a computer or mix chemicals, I have hundreds of people that can do that." Cosmo said as he looked to him, patting him on the shoulder. "You have an expertise that no one else on this ship does. Who do you think I'd ask for advice how to swing a sword? Odious or Ripcon?"

"Well...Ripcon." Wrench stated.

"Exactly! That's exactly why I wanted to pick that big, beautiful brain of yours!" Cosmo stated. "Um...some of that IS still brain right?"

"I've put in cybernetic enhancements, but yes it's my brain." Wrench answered.

"Good, I wouldn't want to offend." Cosmo said as they got to a door. He activated a hand-print scanner and the door opened, but as they stepped inside, Wrench saw a noticeable shift in the decor of the ship. While different areas were decorated differently, they were in general made of metal. All of this area seemed to be made of wood. They made their way to a large, heavy door that was flanked by two guards, both of them slaves. Wrench would have expected Kudabots to be guarding the door, so he felt this was a little odd.

"What is this place?" Wrench asked him.

"In here, we have a unique creature." He told Wrench. The cyborg just looked to the door, seeing that it was locked by several heavy beams blocking the door.

"In there?" Wrench asked. While it was surprisingly low-tech, he had worked for Sledge long enough to be able to recognise a prison when he saw one. Whatever was on the other side of that door was not there by choice!

"Yes my boy!" Cosmo told him, clicking his fingers and indicating to the guards to unblock the door. They removed the beams, before gesturing to them to leave. "My boy, in this business you quickly realise there are many ways of getting others to do what you want. The most obvious is to pay them, but another is..."

"...to give them an option that's preferable to the situation they're in." Wrench concluded. That was a pretty accurate description of Sledge's inmates. Cosmo just pointed to him and smiled.

"And that's what I like about you my boy! Sharp as a tack!" He responded, before heading inside. There were no lights, and Wrench had to adjust his optics to see. It was then that he saw a monster locked in what could only be described as a pillory, locking him in place. It was a mechanical creature with a head that looked like a satellite dish. Cosmo lit a burning torch and came over, illuminating the room.

"Wrench, meet Hacktrack!" Cosmo told him.

"Cosmo! You...you...you came here!" Hacktrack said in an electronic tone. "Please let me out! I promise I won't do it again!"

"Who is this?" Wrench asked him. "Why is he a prisoner here?"

"Hacktrack here is a technical whizz, one that I think could even give you a run for your money." Cosmo told him. "He can hack virtually anything! That's why I have to keep him here! Any technology and he could..."

Wrench started to judder and shake, before finding himself moving towards the prisoner. He was raising up his axe, about to set him free, but Cosmo hit Hacktrack in the face, at which Wrench suddenly regained control. Wrench just shook his head, realising what he had done.

"He...he...he took control..."

"He's a menace, the worst kind of criminal!" Cosmo said with disgust in his voice. "I couldn't trust the authorities to handle him, so I decided to deal with him myself."

"Cosmo, I promise, I won't do it anymore!" Hacktrack begged him. "Please, let me go!"

"I will let you go; you can finally be free to go wherever you want...and believe me I never want to see you again!" Cosmo assured him. "I just need you to do one thing for me!"

"Anything, ANYTHING!" Hacktrack rushed out. Cosmo just smiled.

"I just want you to do what you do best." He answered. "Guards! Cut him loose and bring him to my office. I'll brief him there!"

As they left the cell, Wrench pulled into Cosmo.

"What did he do?" Wrench asked him. Cosmo just looked to him.

"Copyright theft!" Cosmo answered. "The bastard hacked my broadcasts and streamed them for free! I hate pirates!"

The following morning, Sarah woke up, raising up from her desk. She had fallen asleep there, working on her latest device. She had always had random and frequent ideas for devices to build. Some of them never got beyond sketches, others were lying in a half-finished state all over her room and the garage, but especially recently, she found herself always analysing everything, trying to imagine a way to make it work better or to create a new device that could do the task better.

She peeled a sheet of notepaper off her face, and yawned, stretching out. She hadn't had anything like enough sleep, she couldn't think when she had fallen asleep, but as she was about to get up to head to the bathroom and wash up, she saw a small, spherical device on her desk. Turning it over in her hands, she smiled as memories of the previous night came to her. She had done it, she had actually done it! Looking across the desk, there were four others the same.

"They say two heads are better than one." Sarah said to herself. "Five should make it a breeze!"

 **A/N:** OK, sorry to do this, I don't mean to be a killjoy, but I would like to ask you to spare me a few moments of your time. I've had good experiences on here, but I wanted to take a moment to comment on something that has happened on Social Media lately.

I won't say who, and why isn't important, but a former Ranger cast member has received considerable harassment lately. While this isn't exactly anything new, many have, this has been a concerted campaign of harassment that has caused considerable upset. They posted a very worrying message that has me and many others concerned for their welfare. It caused me so much concern that I have reported the post out of concern that they may be in danger of self harm.

I know that my readers here are good people, and I do not for a moment believe any of you to be involved, however this has angered and sickened me so much that I would ask that you all be on the lookout for any such signs of concern. The cast of the show have provided us with so much joy, and it is unfortunate that people feel it is acceptable to target them in this vicious and cowardly way. Online harassment is a very real thing and the last thing I want is to see any tragic stories unfold. Thank you for your time.


	21. Pressure

Sarah barely registered as her dad pulled up outside the school. While it had taken a few weeks to come through, one of the perks of his new job had been a company car, and he had been asking to give Sarah a ride to school now for a while. She reacted with a start as he pulled on the parking brake and killed the engine. She wasn't asleep, but she wasn't far off it.

"Are you absolutely sure you need all this stuff?" He asked, gesturing into the back seat. Sarah could only nod as she was too busy yawning to answer verbally. She had been up most of the night, even after her dad had asked her to go to bed after eleven.

"I don't know how much the school provides." She told him, unhitching her seatbelt. Her dad put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Sarah, can...can you wait just a moment?" He asked her. She wasn't really in the mood for another lecture, but she knew her dad had her best interests in mind. He took a deep breath. "I've been noticing you seem a little...run down lately."

"Run down?" She asked him.

"I mean, you've got your school work, all those little projects you work on, all that time you spend with your friends, now you're signing up for four extra-curricular activities?" He asked her. "You're not really leaving a lot of time for relaxing or sleeping."

"The next few years are going to be a lot of work..."

"And you seem to be burning the candle at both ends." Her father interrupted her. "Believe me, I really appreciate how much work you put into everything but there is such a thing as taking on too much."

"Dad, I..."

"I know I'm going on about this a bit, but no one knows more about putting too much pressure on yourself than me." He told her. Sarah just sighed; she knew her dad worried about her, not just because he cared about her, but because he had a part of his own past that he wasn't proud of.

"Dad, you don't need to worry..."

"I do need to worry; it's kind of my job Sarah." He reminded her. "It took me a long time to get back to where I am now, and when I think of what it almost cost me, I am grateful every day that there were people close to me that made me see what I was doing to myself and everyone around me."

"Dad, this is only a temporary thing." Sarah assured him. "Believe me; I'm all about work/life balance. I don't intend to be doing 60-70 hour weeks all my life..."

"Neither was I." Her dad told her. "The worst part is, I can't even claim money was the reason. I was earning about ten times more than I am now as an investment broker, but I also know that it made me a person I hate, and someone I work very hard to make sure I never see again. Please, promise me..."

"I promise dad." She whispered. "If it's getting too much, I'll cut back, I promise."

He leaned in, kissing her forehead and smiled.

"You may have gotten some things from me, but thank God you got your brains from your mother." He answered. "If I can't convince you to leave some of this behind, can I at least give you a hand in with some of it?"

"I'll be fine dad." She assured him, getting out and beginning to load herself up. He smirked a little, seeing her looking a little more like a pack mule than a teenager by the time she was finished. Between her school bag, her hoverboard, her chess board, the box with the pieces, her gym bag, her compound bow and arrows and her tent, it looked like she was carrying more than she actually weighed, and he couldn't see her face, giving him concerns that she wouldn't be able to see where she was going.

"Are you sure?" He asked her. "I guess if you end up taking a tumble down the stairs a trip to the hospital will guarantee you get some time to rest."

"Ha ha, very funny dad!" She said sarcastically. "I'll see you at home!"

He pulled away from the kerb, heading on his way to work, hoping that his daughter really did take more after her mother than she did after him.

In the school, Monty was making his way through the school, carrying a quiver as he looked for Victor. He didn't really have much interest in archery himself, but he had joined the club with Victor, as he had with virtually everything. Victor already had the school record for distance in archery, but Monty had created a brand new kind of arrow, one he hoped would help him break that record. Victor was immensely proud of his trophy collection, which currently stood at 49, and he was always on the lookout for how to add number 50 to the cabinet. He knew it wouldn't win him another trophy, since Victor already owned it, but he would happily help wherever he could.

"Hey there Monty." He heard an all too familiar voice saying. He gulped as he turned around slowly. Ace and his crew were standing behind him.

"Ace." He managed to force out as he started to shy away. He was looking around for Victor for protection. While Victor and Ace were no longer friends and didn't hang out anymore, Ace at very least never did anything to Monty while he was around. "I was just going to meet Victor..."

"Yeah, nice try, you forget we're cousins. I know he's never at school this early." Ace told him, reaching for him and grabbing the quiver, ripping it from his hands. He looked into it, pulling out an arrow and looking to him in disgust. "Wait...are you walking around school with weapons?"

"They're for archery club..." Monty managed to say, before Ace shoved him roughly against the lockers.

"You little shit! You think after what you did you should be walking around with weapons?" Ace asked him. "You shouldn't be walking around at ALL! You should be in a cell!"

"Ace, they're just for archery class, I wasn't..." Monty hit the floor as Ace back-handed him to the floor. He heard a cough and looked around, this time finding Calvin standing there.

"Hey Ace." Calvin greeted him, before looking to Monty on the floor. "Is there some problem here?"

"Melvin! Naw, there's no problem here is there?" Ace asked. Monty shook his head. "Monty here just took a little spill and we were going to help him up."

Ace pulled Monty up off the floor, at which Calvin just looked between the two of them.

"Yeah...I just heard you did some more work on your car." Calvin stated. "I was wondering if I could have a look at it; see if I could get a little inspiration."

"Sure thing Melvin." Ace stated.

"Calvin." The Yellow Ranger corrected him as Monty started collecting arrows from the floor. He looked to the smaller student. "You sure you're OK?"

"Yeah, I just...slipped." Monty told him. He didn't want to get anyone else involved in his problem, he was just thankful that it looked like Calvin could get Ace to leave him alone.

"OK then." Calvin stated. "So, what is it you got this time? V8? V10?"

"Um...yeah, the bigger one." Ace said with a smile. "Nothing but the best for my baby right?"

As they left, Monty gathered up the arrows and put them back in the quiver. He hated how Ace treated him, the older student had bullied him as long as he could remember, but the last few years especially, it had only gotten worse. Of course, given what had happened, Monty couldn't really blame him. Monty couldn't blame anyone but himself for how much Ace hated him now.

Over at the front door, Sarah had finally managed to navigate her way carefully up the stairs. Given the load, she could barely see where she was going, and it had taken her quite a while to get up the stairs without being able to see them. She had almost ended up on her face a few times, but coming in the front door, she breathed a sigh of relief."

"OK, I have everything, I'm all set." Sarah told herself, trying to reassure herself more than anyone else. "You've got this Sarah!"

Unfortunately, after being able to negotiate the stairs, the one thing she couldn't negotiate was a shop class teacher who was paying as little attention to where he was going as she was. Mick was reading a note from the Principal's office when he accidentally bumped into Sarah. They both managed to remain on their feet, but she dropped so much, it looked like she was about to set up a jumble sale in the middle of the lobby.

"I'm so sorry Mick!" She rushed out as she started to gather things. Mick helped her, grabbing some other stuff and helping to heap it all back onto her in a way she could carry it.

"It's alright; I wasn't watching where I was going either." Mick told her. "I got a note from Principal Hastings about some Dinosaur Museum in Amber Beach the science department wants to take the kids to and was trying to arrange to take me out there to check it out."

"Really?" Sarah asked him. "Principal Hastings wants to take you...alone?"

"Would you stop that? It's bad enough the guys all think she wants a piece of the Mickster without you starting too." Mick grumbled. He noticed the mish-mash of items she was carrying. "So, the rumours are true. You signed up for four clubs?"

"Yup, I sure did!" Sarah told proudly. "It's going to look great on my college application!"

"You don't happen to be Triforian do you?" He asked her. Sarah just looked confused.

"What's a Triforian?" She asked.

"It's just that all four clubs happen to be meeting at the same time." Mick said as he reminded himself of the fact that with the exception of Brody, none of the current Rangers had actually left Earth, and so had limited knowledge of aliens. A few older humans, he found, could remember a team of Aquitarian Rangers serving for a brief period to cover for the Earth team, and everyone remembered that aliens had invaded the planet a few times over the years, but that didn't mean most people knew a lot about aliens. "How can you possibly be in four places at once?"

"Well uh..." Sarah started to say, before thinking about it. She did have a solution, the new device she had been working on would indeed allow her to be everywhere she needed to be at the same time, but for some reason, she loved the idea of pulling a surprise on the team when they realised she had done everything she had intended to in the day. For now, she was happy to leave him in the dark. "...that's for me to know and you to find out! OK, bye!"

With that, she sprinted off. Mick just stood, scratching his head, before shrugging and heading off.

"And the humans say I'm weird." He mused.

Up on the Warrior Dome, Madame Odious made her way to one of her hidden doors, this time seeing Wrench heading past on an errand. She just gave him a quick glare to remind him of their earlier conversation, before opening the door. Wrench was nothing if not a coward, and she was confident he wouldn't have told Cosmo about her hidden lab. Stepping inside, the door closed behind her.

She went to the console and started checking on her readings, entering a few commands.

"How are you my little experiment?" She asked insincerely as her prisoner grunted and struggled. He was putting up an amazing fight still, even weeks after he had been kidnapped. She was almost sorry to think that she couldn't somehow use him in her plan herself. He was a lot stronger than she had anticipated; she had been led to believe that humans were a fragile species. Many much more robust species had perished much earlier in her experiments. Still, if he was strong enough to survive, she couldn't guarantee that her programming would be strong enough that he wouldn't be able to overcome it eventually. That was where the transfer came in. She already had another subject in mind to give the Gold Power Star to, and had literally built him herself to do her bidding. This human would serve his purpose, but after that it was too much of a risk to give him that power. "Ah, the transfer is almost complete. Then I will toss you away like a piece of garbage!"

She laughed as she left him behind, exiting her secret lab once more. Wrench was still there, working on something. She closed the door and made her way over.

"Still snooping are you?" She asked him. "I thought we'd discussed that before."

"I don't care what you're up to in there." He said, trying to sound as confident as possible. She had already subtly threatened him not to tell anyone what he had seen in her laboratory. He was well aware of the fact she was dangerous, and even being in Cosmo's good graces, he couldn't guarantee that Odious couldn't get to him before Cosmo could protect him. "I'm working on the next show. I just concentrate on my own job."

"Hmm...an admirable and...wise approach." She said with a smirk as she tapped the side of his face. "Wise people last longer around here."

In another part of the city, Sarah's dad arrived on the top floor of the office block, looking a little nervous. He had only worked in Mr Tien's firm for a few weeks, but he had never actually met the man. This apparently wasn't uncommon, he had heard from people that had worked in the company at the lowest levels for over a decade that wouldn't know what the man looked like if it wasn't for his appearances on the local news or the newspapers. If anything, he was surprised he had been summoned to see him at all. As he stepped out of the elevator, he found a large door with two large men in suits, with noticeable bulges that indicated shoulder harnesses under their suits standing either side of the door, and a large, antique mahogany desk to his right. A woman, presumably his PA was sitting behind the desk, though his eyes were drawn to what was behind her. A huge painting, about twelve feet by eight feet hung behind the desk, showing Mr Tien's wife, and a young man he presumed to be Preston. It was a commission that had to have cost him thousands.

"Alistair Thompson?" The PA asked.

"Everyone calls me Al." He told her.

"He's expecting you." She told him, gesturing to the door. Al nervously made his way to the door, where he was patted down by one of the guards. He lifted Al's phone from his pocket.

"No phones, no recording equipment of any kind." He told him. The other once presented a contract to Al.

"This is a legally binding non-disclosure agreement. If you divulge the details of anything you see or discuss within the next 25 years, you'll be subject to summary dismissal and litigation to the fullest abilities of the company. Do you understand?"

"I'm...an auditor, not a spy." Al joked with a weak laugh. "It's not like we're going to be discussing nuclear arms is it?"

"Are you refusing to sign?" The security guard asked. "I can always inform Mr Tien and escort you back to your desk..."

"No, its fine, I'll sign." Al said, scrawling his signature on the document. He was quickly realising that they weren't joking in the slightest! This job offer had been a good one for him; it had come along with a full-ride scholarship for Sarah, a company car, and a salary that was at least ten percent higher than any equivalent position in another company. To say that he couldn't afford to let this go easily would be an understatement.

"Mr Tien will see you now." The security guard told him, gesturing Al inside. Al went in, finding Mr Tien pacing his office, his putter in his hand and his cell phone in the other. He was a little animated in his manner.

He was wearing a dark blue suit, and a silk tie. He had silver hair, and on his right wrist, he was wearing a Rolex that would pay Al's mortgage for the next decade. He was wearing a couple of rings, a couple of them large, decorative affairs with lots of gold and diamonds that demonstrated his wealth, and probably explained the paranoid guards outside, but one was just a plain gold band, his wedding ring.

"Charles, I keep telling you, this deal is going to revitalise the city. What could be better than housing for the hard-working people of Summer Cove?" He asked, trapping the phone between his shoulder and his ear as he lined up a put, aiming for his putting machine. "Well yes, I know there are a few people who like that area, but there are plenty of parks in Summer Cove. I'm certain no one will miss one."

He didn't seem to be too happy with the response, as his putt was noticeably pulled, missing the machine.

"I think I should remind you that the election is in three months. I've put my support behind you the last two years, but if I'm wrong about your commitment to building the future of Summer Cove, I can always find someone else who'll support..."

He smiled as he heard a response.

"I'll expect the letter from the zoning committee." Mr Tien said. "Thank you for your time!"

As he hung up, he looked to Al.

"That was..."

"None of my business." Al said, holding his hands up defensively. He had been in investments long enough to know strong-arming when he heard it. The fact that Mr Tien had mentioned something about the Zoning Committee meant it was something he had a feeling he really didn't want to hear. "With all due respect sir, I'm a man who likes to keep to my own job."

"Yes, I've heard that about you." Mr Tien said. "I've also heard you're the best auditor I've had here in years."

"I appreciate that sir..."

"In fact, from what I hear you've saved me more in the time you've been here than your predecessor did in a year." Mr Tien stated. He gestured to a table a little way off, where a number of decanters were sitting. "Scotch?"

"Um...no thank you." Al said, stroking his chin, looking at the bottles. "I wouldn't mind a mineral water though."

"Help yourself, I'll have a double. Get it from the decanter with the crest on it, its thirty year old malt, best in the world."

Al hesitated as he was asked to do this. He made his way over to the table and found the decanter, picking it up. He gripped the stopper, but paused for a moment. Mr Tien just looked to him.

"Today would be good Mr Thompson." He said with a little chuckle. Al took a deep breath, holding his breath as he opened it, before pouring the glass. He replaced the decanter and took the glass and a bottle of mineral water carrying the glass to Mr Tien as he lined up another shot. As he handed over the glass, he finally let out his breath.

"I have to say Mr Thompson, given your CV I'm a little surprised you're in the auditing department." Mr Tien told him. "I'd have thought you'd like to be up where the real money is."

"I'm very happy where I am Mr Tien." He assured him.

"Really?" He asked. "I think you might change your mind when I tell you about the development I'm about to unveil. If you were a little higher up the chain you'd be entitled to stock options..."

"I appreciate that Mr Tien, but I've been in that life once before and...I'm much happier where I am." He told him. "Work/life balance is much more important to me these days."

"Yes, of course, you're a family man." Mr Tien said with a smile. "I believe my Preston goes to the same school as your daughter! It wasn't my first choice but my wife, God rest her, she hated the thought of private schooling. Even though she's gone I feel beholden to the promise I made her."

"That's correct sir." Al told him.

"Just think how much better you could do for your family if you were making considerably more than you are now." Mr Tien stated. Imagine being able to retire in five years with no mortgage and still send your girl to college."

He pointed to the table again.

"How about it?" He asked. "Take a drink and we can discuss the details."

"I...I don't sir, not anymore." Al told him. "Thank you for your offer Mr Tien, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline."

"You don't like the idea of..."

"No, I do like it, but that world doesn't like me." Al told him honestly. "Like you've said, I've been there before and I became someone I don't like. So thank you, but I think its best I go back to my work now."

"I can't say I'm not disappointed, I could have used someone like you." Mr Tien said with a shrug. "I'm keeping my eye on you Mr Thompson! You seem like a man I can trust!"

With that, Al turned and left the office, heading into the elevator and pressing the button for his floor as though his life depended on it. His old life had once almost cost him everything, and walking away and rebuilding his life after that had been one of the hardest things he had ever done. As much as he had the strength to refuse to go back, it scared him that there was a part of him that he knew wanted to.


	22. Hacktrack Attack

After school, the Rangers split off to their various after-school activities. Summer Cove had a pretty extensive list of extra-curricular activities available. Basketball, tennis, football, wrestling, ice-hockey, camping, archery, gun safety, advanced driving, cross-country, astronomy, chess...there was pretty much something that catered to practically every taste.

While some schools, especially those that had lower budgets would cut extra-curricular programs to keep the funding concentrated on the academic subjects, Principal Hastings had always been a strong believer in the fact that colleges and universities only used grades as a benchmark for getting a foot in the door. For every one university place, there could be as many as thirty applicants all with the exact same grades, and so they would be looking at what a student could do beyond the classroom to determine if they would be the kind of student that would create a good impression of the university. That most students from low-income families got to college or university on scholarships meant it was also essential for those students to get all the help they could enhancing the talents that might be their only way to afford an education that was fast becoming almost a career necessity in the modern technology-driven world.

Brody had opted for cross-country class. It was the class that best fit his skill set. The school didn't have any Martial Arts programmes, and it wasn't as though Cosmo built basketball courts or football pitches for the slaves on the ship, he really didn't care whether or not they enjoyed what little free time they had on the ship considering the fact it wasn't unknown for him to work them so hard they would even miss sleep and meals for days at a time. Athletics was one of the few pursuits that was reliant mainly on physical health and had only a few technical skills to actually learn.

He was rounding the corner, coming towards the final straight, and he could see the ribbon ahead of him. He was a little surprised, Sarah was out-pacing him most of the way, and he had lost sight of her some time ago. He was expecting to find her waiting for him.

As he crossed the tape, he doubled forward to catch his breath as Mrs Finch came over.

"That's quite an impressive first run Brody, you're only a few seconds behind the school record." She complimented him.

"I am?" He said breathlessly.

"Well...yes. 4.32 to be exact." Mrs Finch told him. "If you keep this up, you could take the record from Victor."

"How did I know Victor would be the one with the record?" He joked.

"He dropped cross-country class at the end of last year." She told him.

"Hey, where's Sarah?" He asked her.

"Oh...I don't know." Mrs Finch replied, looking around. "She must still be running."

"But she was ahead of me." Brody told her. Mrs Finch shook her head.

"Brody, you were the first one across the line." Mrs Finch said. She then looked up. "Oh, here she is now!"

Sarah appeared on the horizon, coming towards them. She was hitting an impressive pace, and it was a little surprising that she was so far back in the pack, but ash she got closer, they could see that from her shoes, almost as high up as her knees, she was caked in mud, and she had broken branches and leaves caught in her clothing and hair. She crossed the line, coming to Brody's side.

"I am SO glad we joined the cross-country club Brody!" She rushed out.

"Yeah, me too." Brody said, picking some leaves out of her hair. "Sarah...what happened to you?"

"I...um...may have lost the trial a little bit." She chuckled.

"Lost the track?" Mrs Finch asked. "I put out markers..."

"I...um...must have lost sight of them." Sarah replied, looking between them both. "Brody, what do you say we go another mile?"

"Yeah, just...give me a second to catch my breath." He answered. Sarah just shook her head.

"Keep up slow coach!" She teased him as she ran off.

Meanwhile, over in chess club, Preston was playing Sarah. Aside from magic, chess had always been a huge interest of his. He hated to admit it, but one of the reasons was having read Harry Potter, and his sincere wish to have a wizard's chess set that actually worked. Since he had discovered his magic powers, he had tried to create such a set a few times, but so far the closest he had come was being able to make the knights able to bite him when he tried to move them.

Sarah contemplated her move, before moving her queen into position.

"Check and mate." She declared. "Chess club rules!"

"Yeah, it does." Preston said, scratching his head. "Um...Sarah, that's not actually a checkmate."

"Really?" She asked. "It looks like it..."

"Well for one thing when you moved the queen you exposed your king to my rook." He told her. "Secondly, the queen can't move that way, only the knight does and finally, even from here, my king has at least three moves he can make."

Sarah looked at the board, inspecting it thoughtfully before realising he was right. She took back her queen and moved a pawn instead.

"Sorry about that." She chuckled weakly. "I must have just been distracted; I've been working on a cool upgrade for..."

"Checkmate." Preston said, moving his rook and taking the queen. Sarah looked down at the board, before holding her head in her hands.

"Aw man!" She groaned. "Want to set up for another game?"

"Uh...OK?" Preston said as he started to set up the pieces. "But just so you know, you are now four games behind."

"Man I suck today!" Sarah grumbled, turning around the board. "How about this time I make the first move?"

"Alright then." Preston answered as Sarah took hold of one of her knights.

In another part of the school grounds, Calvin and Hayley were in the camping club, trying to figure out how to put up Calvin's new tent. They had always thought about going for their first holiday together at the end of the school year, but as two high school kids that didn't have jobs, they didn't have a huge number of options. They figured a camping trip would be a good option, but of course that required that they were actually able to put up a tent. Calvin just stared at the instructions, before handing them to Hayley.

"Here, you can read any language, see if you can figure this out." He told her.

"They're written in English Cal." She groaned.

"Well their idea of English and mine is clearly VERY different." He commented, taking one of the rods, figuring out how they went together. "I think you put the poles together first."

"No, first you spread out the tent." Hayley told him. "That way you can pin the ground-sheet to the ground and you can see where the poles go!"

"Don't you just love camping club?" Sarah said as she set up a folding chair. Calvin and Hayley both glared at her, seeing that she already had her tent set up.

"How...how did you set that up so fast?" Calvin asked her.

"It's pretty straightforward." Sarah told them. "I've been camping loads of times..."

"Sarah...what are all these extra pieces?" Hayley asked her as Sarah was about to sit down. As soon as she did though, the chair collapsed beneath her. Sarah called out as she fell backwards into her tent, which collapsed the moment she touched it. Calvin and Hayley were over like a shot to help her out of the wreckage. She just looked bewildered as she was helped to her feet.

"What...what happened?" Sarah asked them.

"Well if I was to hazard a guess I'd say you didn't put the safety catches on when you folded up the chair."

"You also didn't set up the tent correctly." The teacher said as he inspected the tent. "You didn't secure the rods properly, you're missing pegs...I'm afraid if you don't set up your tent correctly by the end of the session it'll be reflected in your grade."

As he left, Sarah just looked to the tent, her mouth hanging open.

"But...how?" She asked. "I've set this thing up hundreds of times, I could do it blindfolded!"

"Well...maybe for today just pay attention?" Hayley suggested. "Come on Cal, we have to figure out how to put this up. If we hurry, we might not get an incomplete for the day."

Over in the Tien building, Al was at his desk, going over some reports, all while keeping his eye on the clock. He still had some time before his shift finished, but he was eager to get home. He had already texted his wife to tell her that he was planning on picking up an Indian meal. It had been a trying day, and he felt like he could do with something to cheer him up.

He looked up as an envelope was put down in front of him, looking up to see the mail-room guy, Reggie standing over him.

"I heard you had an audience with the Emperor." He said with a smile. Many of the lower down employees in Mr Tien's company referred to him as 'The Emperor'. There wasn't any racist intent, although given his heritage it could be inferred that way. It was more down to the fact that he ran his company very much like an empire. Things were done his way, and if people didn't like it, he was only too happy to give them a reference and send them on their way. The upper levels of his company were full of people willing to stroke his ego and support him in whatever he suggested, regardless of who it would affect.

"Mr Tien called me for a meeting." Al told him. "I can't tell you what happened, I signed a non-disclosure agreement."

"He offered you a job upstairs didn't he?" Reggie asked. Al didn't say anything, but his silence basically confirmed it. One thing he had learned from the corporate world was that the people with the real knowledge, the people who REALLY knew what was going on were the 'little people'. The ones who hauled the trash, the ones who served the coffee in board rooms, and most of all, the mail room guys. They were the people that everyone forgot about when they were talking about stuff out loud because they weren't important enough to notice. Reggie had seen things like this often enough he was bound to know the signs. "So when are you heading up to the 18th floor?"

"I'm not." Al told him.

"You're going to another building?" Reggie asked.

"I'm not going anywhere, I'll be here on Monday same as always." Al told him. He could see that Reggie wasn't going to leave this alone. "I was offered a position, but...I turned it down."

"You did what?" Reggie asked him. "Are you nuts?"

"The almighty dollar isn't my main driving force." Al told him. "The money's great upstairs, but I really..."

"Hey, you're talking to a 49 year old that still pushes a mail cart. I understand completely not chasing the greenbacks." Reggie told him. "I mean turning down The Emperor."

"Mr Tien seems like a reasonable man..."

"You clearly haven't been here very long." Reggie said, shaking his head. "A few years back, some kid in the mailroom complained about him cutting the Christmas bonus. He got a few of the others together and threatened to take it to the press. Turns out they had a legal argument and he would have lost if it went to a court. Mr Tien re-instated the full Christmas bonus but by the time he was finished, every single one of those kids was gone."

"He fired them?" Al asked him.

"He found a bunch of bullshit things to pin on them, everything from breach of contract for unionising to uniform infractions." Reggie told him. "By the time he was done, 13 kids were torched."

"He fired 13 people?" Al asked him.

"Worse than that, he TORCHED them!" Reggie stated. "He put out bad reports on all of them to every employer in town. Some of them took months to get new jobs above minimum wage!"

"That's...that's insane!" Al commented.

"Hey, Tien the Tyrant is kind of that way inclined. He does NOT like being told no." Reggie told him. "That's why if he even notices you exist, if he asks you to stick your hand in a running blender, it's considered a bad idea to say anything other than 'left or right'."

"He seemed fine with me." Al told him.

"He seemed fine to those kids too." Reggie told him. "If I were you, I'd seriously consider calling him and telling him you reconsidered."

As Reggie left, Al took a deep breath. He had an inkling that Mr Tien wasn't happy at being turned down, but he had no idea he could be so petty that he would go out of his way to harm anyone that politely declined his invitation. He only hoped that he hadn't taken his rejection personally. This job had been a god-send for him and his family, and he couldn't afford to have that rug pulled out from under him now.

Elsewhere in Summer Cove, Sarah had arranged to meet her friends out in the woods to test a new weapon she had been working on. While Mick was all for them upping their arsenal, he had figured that trying out anything ranged or explosive in the Ranger Base was not the best idea, and so they had gone out where they could get some more space to work. Sarah summoned up her Ninja Blaster and her Power Star.

"Ninja Blaster, Power Up!" She declared, hooking the Power Star into place. She took careful aim at a target a little distance away. "I've figured out a way to channel the power of our Power Stars through the blasters, that should give them a little more kick...though it does restrict the range a little. Ninja Blaster, Whiplash!"

With that, she opened fire on a target a few feet away. A long, bright beam of energy shot out, striking the target and destroying it utterly. She got up; her blaster still smoking as she proudly surveyed the aftermath.

"Wow!" Hayley gasped.

"Whoa, that is EPIC!" Brody concurred.

"Yeah, pretty cool attack huh?" Sarah asked. "I've already programmed it into our Ninja Blasters. Next time we get within thirty feet of Ripcon, he's not going to know what planet he's on!"

"Wait, you've programmed this into our blasters already?" Hayley asked.

"Yeah, when did you have time to do that?" Calvin asked her. "You were at camping club with us!"

"Remember? Your tent fell down twice!" Hayley stated.

"Um..."

"No, she was at chess club with me." Preston told them. "I beat her five games in a row."

"Ah...yes...well..."

"No, she was at the cross country club with me." Brody stated. "Well...when she wasn't getting lost in the woods that is."

"Uh...um...well, actually..."

"Hello Rangers!" They heard a voice interrupt them. They all turned to see Hacktrack sanding a little way off with a squadron of Kudabots. "I'm Hacktrak! Hand over your techno gadgets now!"

"We aren't handing over anything!" Brody told him bluntly.

"Fine then. Kudabots ATTACK!"

The Rangers all drew their Ninja Swords and rushed into battle, taking on the robots. Hacktrack already knew that they would likely win, he'd already been told that the Kudabots weren't much of a match for the Rangers; they were there more as a distraction than anything else. He started to look around.

"Now, they were out here testing weapons." He said to himself in a mechanical voice. "Where are all their cool techno gadgets? There has to be something lying around here somewhere!"

"You like gadgets?" Sarah called out as she leapt at him. "How do you like my Ninja Sword?"

Hacktrack blocked her strike, before sending Sarah tumbling away with his counter attack. He looked to Sarah as she tried to get back up.

"Swords are so last century! Why don't you show me some REAL tech!" Hacktrack taunted her as he started to advance on her. "Blasters, bombs, computer codes...surely you aren't defeating all Cosmo's monsters with a sharp piece of metal."

"Whiplash!" The others called out as they activated their new attack, destroying the Kudabots, before turning their attention to Hacktrack. They turned in time to see him heading towards Sarah as she finally got to her feet.

"Stand back!" Sarah warned him, but something curious started to happen. Before her eyes, she started to glitch out, and flicker, like an image on a malfunctioning computer screen. "Stay baaaaa..."

"SARAH!" Preston called out, seeing her in trouble. Sarah's words tailed off as she disappeared completely, and a small, spherical metal object a little larger than a softball dropped to the ground. Hacktrack stepped forward, picking it up.

"Fascinating." He mused. "This is EXACTLY the type of tech I'm looking for!"

"What have you done to Sarah?" Brody yelled, preparing his blaster. "Give her back!"

"Even if I could I wouldn't!" Hacktrack stated, before activating a teleport command. "This has been fun, but I've got to log off! Bye now!"

With that, he disappeared.

"This is not good!" Calvin rushed out. "He's got Sarah."

"How did he even do that?" Hayley asked.

"It looked like he trapped her in that...thing." Preston suggested. "Maybe it's like a Poke Ball?"

"Whatever happened, we need to figure out where he's taken her and what to do about it." Brody told them, pulling out his Mega Morph Cycle Star. "We need to get back to the base, FAST!"


	23. The Problem With Weapons

Hacktrack appeared back on the Warrior Dome, stumbling a little with excitement as he raced to Cosmo's side. He was skipping and dancing as he cradled the silver sphere in his hands.

"I did did did what I promised." Hacktrack bleeped as he showed him the device. "I took this techno gadget from the R...r...r...angers!"

"What's up with his voice?" Cosmo asked.

"Something must be wrong with his vocal processors." Wrench told him. "How long was he locked up?"

"Never mind, it's a gimmick." Cosmo stated, taking the device from him. He sighed and looked to the robot. "What exactly is this?"

"It's one of the Ranger's techno..."

"I asked EXATLY what is it?" He asked again. "For all we know it could be a fancy coffee maker!"

"When I hit the Pink Ranger she d...d...d...disappeared and th...th...th...this was all that was left!" Hacktrack told them.

"Hmm...the Pink Ranger disappeared and this was left behind?" Madame Odious asked, appearing as though from nowhere and taking the object, inspecting it. "Perhaps there is much more this than meets the eye."

"Well, it's never a bad thing to have one less Ranger around." Wrench stated. Hacktrack took back the device, and scanned it with his weapon. They all watched as it disappeared into him and his eyes started glowing. Hacktrack looked back to them.

"This is b...b...b...better than I hoped!" He said excitedly. "This is a h...h...h...holo p...p...p...projector."

"Holo projector?" Wrench asked, throwing up his hands. "That means it's a fancy night light! I've seen places where these are kids toys!"

"B...b...but this one is d...d...d...different." Hacktrack told them. "This hologram was s...s...s...solid."

"Solid?" Cosmo asked. "Light can be solid?"

"This projector can make c...c...c...clones." Hacktrack explained. "Imagine having an a...a...a...army with all the training of a warrior but no ca...ca...ca...casualties."

"That DOES sound good!" Odious replied. "Tell me, can you improve on this? Supersize it if you will?"

"Y...y...y...yes." Hacktrack stated. Odious smiled.

"I think I have an idea." She said, looking to Cosmo. "Let's take this into the office shall we? I think I have an idea that can bring you a REALLY big show!"

Back in Summer Cove, the Rangers came storming into the Ranger Base in a panic. It was never a good thing when they returned with less Rangers than they set out with, but right now they were in a total panic. They had literally watched Sarah disappear. They had no idea what Hacktrack had done to her, but it had something to do with that spherical device Hacktrack had taken with him. Preston had blurted out the theory that it was kind of a real-life poke ball, perhaps having trapped Sarah inside it. While this did sound silly to everyone, in the absence of any other ideas it was so far the leading theory.

As they got back, Mick was working on one of the computers.

"Mick, something crazy just happened to Sarah!" Brody began. Mick didn't look worried, if anything he looked more confused than anything else.

"Yeah, we were fighting and..." He started to say, preparing to explain his poke ball theory to Mick, when he looked to where Mick was pointing. He let out a high-pitched yelp and jumped about five feet in the air when he saw Sarah rising up from behind a computer screen. She was wearing a lab coat, and some kind of skull-cap that was linked by a bunch of wires to the mainframe. She had set herself up a strange kind of fort almost of computer screens around her.

"Sorry you guys." Sarah said sheepishly, smiling at them. "That wasn't strictly speaking ME you saw at training just then."

All of the team were happy to see Sarah standing in the same room as them, seemingly safe and sound, but by now everyone was as confused as hell. They started to file over, looking to Sarah hoping that somewhere in the procedure they'd finally get some kind of explanation as to what was going on.

"What are you talking about?" Brody asked her.

"Well...I thought about all the demands on everyone's time, and how we all seem to be having to be in multiple places at once..."

"Um...I'm pretty sure that's just you." Calvin stated.

"But I mean, between training and schoolwork and building weapons and suchlike..."

"And pretty much every extra-curricular activity available on the same day." Preston said, moving closer to Sarah. He gently prodded her with a finger on the arm, almost as if making sure she was really there this time.

"Well...I just thought we could do with a few more hands to lighten the load around here, and whose hands are better than mine?" She asked. "So after a couple of hours, I engineered this."

She showed them one of the silver spheres they had seen Hacktrack taking. The Rangers looked no more enlightened as to what was going on than they had been when the conversation started. Sarah hit the button on the sphere with the heel of her palm and tossed the ball into the middle of the room. The Rangers and Mick all watched as it started floating and in a burst of light, another Sarah appeared. They looked back and forth between both of them, hardly able to believe what they were seeing.

"It's a holo projector! It can produce a hologram that looks, and acts...just like me!" She told them excitedly. The Rangers started to make their way around to view the computers, and noted the programs on the screens. There was a Sarah prepared for the archery club, one for the camping club, one for the track club, one for the chess club, and a blank screen with the word "offline" across it, presumably the Sarah they had seen being struck down at training. There was another, the new one in the room. It was just designated "Sarah 5"

"So that's how you've been at all those clubs all afternoon." Brody surmised. "While you were meant to be all those places, in reality, you haven't left the lab all afternoon."

"Exactly!" Sarah said cheerfully. "So while I was crushing it in track, chess club, camping club and archery club, I was able to work on the Whiplash attack on the blasters and finish it today!"

"Yeah...there seems to be a lot of Sarahs." Mick commented, looking at the screens.

"And...I'm not sure I'd say you were 'crushing it' at all those clubs." Brody told her. "At track club you kind of got lost."

"I...I did?" Sarah asked him.

"Yeah, you ran off the track and spent the afternoon running around the woods." Brody informed her. She looked to the program.

"Hm...there must be a glitch I haven't seen."

"Yeah, and I beat you five games in a row at chess club." Preston told her. "And I don't mind admitting the fact that...I kind of suck at chess."

"Oh...um...I probably haven't seen..."

"And in camping club your tent fell down." Calvin told her.

"Well...any technology has a few teething problems, right?" She asked. "Hey, think about it, how awesome would it be once I perfect it. If we can keep the bad guys on their toes with five Rangers, think how much easier it would be if we can field fifty!...A HUNDRED even!"

"Sorry guys, I've got to take this." Mick said as a cell phone rang. They all just looked to him.

"When did you get a cell phone?" Brody asked him.

"Oh, Principal Hastings gave it to me when I told her I didn't have one. She said all staff have to be reachable and it was standard..." He looked around as the Rangers gently shook their heads. "...it's not standard is it?"

"Standard for YOU maybe." Calvin laughed. Mick answered the phone.

"You're go for Mick." He stated. "Wait, hold on...you want me to what? Fine, I'll be there soon."

"What is it?" Brody asked with a cheeky smile. "Private meeting in her office?"

"She wants me to accompany her as she takes Victor and Monty to the hospital." He informed them.

"Hospital again?" Sarah asked. "What did they do this time?"

"It's what YOU did actually." Mick corrected her.

"Oh God no!" Sarah said, looking horrified. "PLEASE tell me I didn't shoot them or something!"

"No, but they both have multiple bee stings, something about you missing your target by about eighty feet and knocking down a bee hive." Mick informed her. "I gotta go guys."

"Sure thing." Sarah said as he left. She looked a little guilty. She would never intentionally hurt anyone, even if it was Victor. Sure, he was a jerk, and Monty by association wasn't much better, but that didn't mean she wanted to hurt them. It wasn't like either of them had outright caused her any actual harm. "There's...obviously a few bugs to work out, but...it's a good idea right?"

"I guess a few more of you around wouldn't be a bad thing." Preston said, prodding her in the arm with his finger again.

"Preston!" She protested.

"Sorry, I was just...checking." He said, before putting his arm around her.

"Sarah, when your clone disappeared in the woods, that monster stole the ball thing." Brody informed her.

"Yeah, could he do something with it?" Hayley asked. Hayley thought for a moment, trying to think about this. She hadn't stopped to think what could happen if the bad guys got a hold of her technology. She looked to the others, who were all staring at her.

"Nah...no I really doubt that." Sarah stated. "I mean, they have an intergalactic space ship, I can make a hoverboard that on a good day can go about four feet off the ground. Anything I make they have to have stuff that outstrips it by a century or more right?"

"Are you sure about that?" Preston asked her, going over to the clone Sarah and inspecting it. "I mean...this is pretty impressive."

"I'm sure my technology has to be kid's stuff to them. You all saw how Mick reacted when he saw this place; he said the stuff here was like a toy shop where he comes from." Sarah reminded them. "What would they use it for anyway?"

"I really hope you're right." Brody said with a shrug.

In another part of town, Hacktack appeared in a food court, prompting a lot of diners to abandon their meals and run for their lives. Quickly, the abandoned tables gave the place the appearance of the Mary Celeste. A few Buzz-Cams came down and pointed at Hacktrack, alerting him to the broadcast coming back.

"I have absorbed the Rangers' Techno-g...g...g...gadgets and now they're going to face their worst n...n...n...nightmare." Hacktrack said as he looked into the nearest camera. "Are you ready Galvanax?"

On the ship there was a cheer as the Champion made an unscheduled appearance on the stage. He strode into the middle of the room, at which a couple of Kudabots started to work on a console beside him. Wrench took a headset from it as Cosmo went onto the stage.

"A few weeks ago, the champion appeared on our show and gave you a tour-de-force!" Cosmo announced. "If one Galvanax gets that kind of reaction from you, let's see how you feel about EIGHT GIANT GALVANAXES!"

With that, Wrench placed the headset on Galvanax's head. The champion just gruffly grunted.

"I don't like this...how does this work?" He asked.

"Just think what you want to do." Wrench told him. "Worst case scenario, one or two of them get deleted and you don't feel a thing. Trust me!"

"Alright Hacktrack, we seem to be all set up here!" Cosmo told him. "Let the show BEGIN!"

With that, Hacktrack raised his weapon into the air and a beam of light shot out of it, splitting into eight. Before long, there were eight giant Galvanax clones running rampage through the city. Cosmo just smiled as he thought of something.

"Wrench, imagine what this thing could be like on the market!" He whispered to him. "Galaxy Warriors, the home game! Why watch the show when you can live it!"

"That sounds great sir!" Wrench said gleefully as he watched the chaos on the monitors begin.

Back at the Ranger Base, the Rangers were training as Mick arrived back, looking to Sarah.

"Victor and Monty will be fine." He assured her. "It'll be a while before they're sitting without inflatable cushions, but...they'll be fine."

"Thank God." Sarah breathed a sigh of relief. Her relief was short-lived though as the alarm sounded. Redbot came over to them, flailing his arms wildly.

"Suffering Circuits, this isn't good!" Redbot told them.

"There's a monster in the city?" Calvin asked.

"Worse than that...there's EIGHT!" Redbot told them.

"EIGHT!" Brody said in shock. In all his years on the show, he had never seen as many as eight monsters sent to a planet at once. It was something Cosmo referred to as 'over-booking'. If people had too much to concentrate on at once, then they became confused and lost interest. He had seen team contests involving four to six monsters, but much beyond that was just putting monsters at risk with very little reward as audiences turned off when they became too confused what was happening. "Which ones?"

"Galvanax!" Redbot told them. Everyone's blood ran cold hearing that. They all remembered the one and only time they had fought Galvanax. It had been a beating they had all barely escaped, and it was sheer luck he had pulled out.

"Who else?" Brody asked.

"Um...they're ALL Galvanax." Redbot clarified, showing them the screen. The Rangers looked at the screen, seeing he was right. Eight giant Galvanaxes were rampaging through the city, leaving devastation in their wake. Sarah didn't need the team to look at her to get a sinking feeling right in the pit of her stomach. Unless Galvanax was an octuplet and had never told anyone, there was only one explanation.

"They're holo-clones." Sarah said in complete horror. Her clones messing up her extra-curriculars was embarrassing, but nothing she couldn't live down. Hurting Victor and Monty was something she felt guilty about, particularly when she realised with a bow and arrow involved in the incident it could have been significantly worse, but now seeing this, she realised what she had unleashed. "Somehow that monster hacked my technology...this is all my fault!"

"Blame doesn't help people whose lives are in danger." Brody told her. "We need to get out there and stop this now."

"But how do we stop eight..."

"It looks like we have a little help." Calvin pointed out. The Rangers all looked to the screen in time to see two Megazords coming into view. They weren't their Megazords, but it wasn't that long ago they were active, so they recognised them as Dino Zords. The Plesiomax Megazord and Titano Zord strode into the picture, beginning to weigh into the fight. In a way she was glad to see that her friends had her back, but in another way this made Sarah feel worse, knowing that her friends who should be retired were having to cover her ass for her mistake.

"Alright, that's a start. That should take some of the heat off." Brody stated. "Sarah."

Sarah was still staring at the screen as the Megazords started taking abuse. Preston grabbed her, shaking her to get her attention back on the task at hand.

"SARAH!" He yelled at her. "You're the only one that knows how these things work. How can we stop them?"

"Maybe...I can try to find a way to shut it down?" She suggested. "As we saw with my clone if you cause enough damage it shuts down, but I'll see if I can find a way to shut them all down at once."

"Alright, get started!" Brody said, before looking to the others. "Alright, it's still a handicap, but three Megazords are better than two. We'll go out there and try to limit the damage until you figure out how to shut this down!"

As they ran out, Sarah struggled to get any of her thoughts straight. She was consumed with guilt over the fact that the city was in danger as a direct result of her actions in creating the holo technology. She was angry with herself for not seeing the danger it could pose, and she was frustrated that now she was facing her own weapon, she realised she hadn't thought to put in a kind of remote fail-safe just in case.

"Come on Sarah, you can kick your own ass later, think!" She said, beginning to wring her hands, trying to think of ways that she could counteract her technology. She could think of a few ways, all of which took time, but there was no way of knowing which would be the quickest, or how she could best use her time. "Think, think, you CAN find a solution to this, I know you can!"

That was when her eyes came to rest on her work station. Of course! How had she not seen it before? Why try and figure out which solution would be the fastest when she could try all of them at once! Whichever one was finished first didn't matter, if she was working on all of them, then she was bound to find the fastest solution!

She went to the workstation, putting on her control cap and started activating holo-projectors. Mick watched as she called up four Sarah clones. It was a bizarre sight indeed to see five Sarahs standing in the same room, and he had a feeling

"Listen up girls, I have a few ideas how to stop Hacktrack's clones, and you're each going to work on one of them." She began. "As for me, I'll help all of you."

Mick leaned against the wall, stroking his chin as he saw this unfolding.

"Sarah number one, look for bugs in the programming. If there's any flaws or weaknesses in it, I want to know. Sarah number two, see if you can block Hacktrack's radio signals. If he can't control the clones, he'll have a bunch of very large, fancy flashlights."

"Mick, is this..." Mick cut off Redbot with a hand signal as he continued to watch this.

"Sarah number three, find out how we can regain control. If we can do that, we can just press the off switch." Sarah informed her. "Sarah number four, try to stop the power source. If we pull the plug, then no more Galvanax clones."

As the Sarah clones each broke off to work on their assigned tasks, Mick opened the door to leave the base.

"Mick, where are you going?" Redbot asked him.

"I'm just going to...clear my thoughts for a little while." He told him. "I'm sure Sarah...all of them...have things handled here."


	24. The Clone Ranger

The Titanozord blocked a pair of naginatas with its axe, sliding backwards and churning up concrete as it did. It swung its axe around hitting one of the Galvanax clones while another two leapt in to the attack.

"Sledge never rolled like this!" Matt complained as he struggled to maintain control. "So much for Summer Cove being a quiet town."

"It was until recently." Kendall said as she tried to keep some space while more of the Galvanax clones swung for her Plesiomax Megazord. The good news was that the Megazords arriving had distracted the monsters from attacking the city...the bad news was that now they had eight Galvanaxes focused entirely on them! "I guess this visit was well timed."

"Shame the others aren't here, we could use a few more Megazords." Matt stated. Their team had four...well...five Megazords if they counted the Spinozord, but so far none of them even knew where it had gone after the last battle, never mind how it activated. "How many do the new guys have?"

"One so far." Kendall told him.

"Well, I guess eight on three is a LITTLE better than eight on two!" He stated. Just then, the Ninja Steel Megazord arrived on the scene.

"Speaking of cavalry, we appreciate the assist." Brody said over the intercom.

"Hey, it's what Rangers do." Matt told him. "Maybe if we survive this we can do the formal meet and greet."

"Sounds like a plan." Brody told them.

"What do you know about these things?" Kendall asked him.

"They're holo-clones of the real thing." Brody told them. "But this is our Big Bad."

"Great, is there any good news?" Matt asked.

"If we cause enough damage they WILL go down!" Brody answered. "Our Pink is working on a way to shut them all down, until then, we can try and take them down the old fashioned way!"

"Well it's not a refined plan, but it's something to work with!" Matt called out as the three Megazords came together, forming a circle back-to-back. "So how much is 'enough damage'?"

"One way to find out I guess!" Kendall stated as they launched into the counter attack. She knew that for the most part they were stalling for time, but if they could at least cut down the odds in the meantime, that would be for the best. She found herself whispering. "Come on Sarah, you can do this."

Over at the Thompson house, Mrs Thompson was catching the news on television when she heard the door opening. She got up and headed over, hoping that it was her daughter returning. She hated to think of Sarah being anywhere she couldn't see her during the attacks. This was like Amber Beach all over again, worrying herself sick, hoping that her daughter was either still at the school or somewhere else she could shelter from the attacks. As she got there though, she was a little surprised to see Al coming in.

"Al?" She asked. "What are you doing home so...?"

"I asked to come home early." He told her. His wife just looked horrified.

"In the middle of THIS?" She shrieked. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"

"Middle of what?" Al asked her. His wife grabbed him and dragged him into the living room, showing him the television.

"Oh." He said, looking a little distant. He had been in a bit of a daze coming home from work. He had left his car at the office, not thinking he was in a fit state to drive given the events of the day. However, he was either incredibly lucky in walking through one of the few areas of town that wasn't being torn apart, or he was in such a daze he had literally not noticed.

"Oh? That's what you have to say, oh?" Mrs Thompson asked him. "Al, you could have been killed!"

"I'm sorry, I...I didn't notice." He said to her.

"DIDN'T NOTICE?" She screamed, turning a distinctive shade of red, one he hadn't seen since some of his darkest days. She was ready to explode. "There are eight one hundred foot samurai monsters attacking the city, and you DIDN'T NOTICE?"

"I had to get out of there!" Al told her. "Mr Tien called me to his office."

"I don't understand." She said, looking confused.

"He...he offered me a job in his investments division." He told her. "He...he also offered me a drink."

"Al..."

"I turned him down, I promise you." Al told her. "I've been told it's a bad idea to turn Mr Tien down for anything, but I did I promise. But...I was tempted."

"Al, what...?"

"I...I just needed to get out of there." Al told her. "I need to call my sponsor."

"Of course." Mrs Thompson said sympathetically, going to the sideboard and getting out Al's address book, turning it to the appropriate page. She was still angry about the thought that he was in danger, but right now she was just happy he was at home safe, and could see that this was what he needed now more than anything. She sat with him and held his hand as he dialled.

"Hi, it's me." Al began the call. He felt his wife's hand squeezing his gently and looked to her, taking comfort as always in the strength she had always given him. "Yeah, it's been a while."

Over at the Ranger Base, Sarah was working hard on finding a solution to their current problem. Her own clones were each working on trying a different solution to bringing down the hologram technology, while she dedicated her efforts to finding Hacktrack.

She was consumed with guilt over what was happening to the city. She had made mistakes before, as Rangers all of them had, and often their mistakes would have dire consequences. If they picked the wrong target to take down first, if they missed a counter attack, if they didn't notice some civilians that hadn't managed to escape, there was always a danger that someone could get hurt, and the sad fact was that while their mistakes did quite often lead to consequences for them, very often it was someone else that got hurt.

A couple of years previously, Sarah's mom had been on a city bus in the middle of Amber Beach during one of the Dino Ranger battles. The bus had taken a hit from a stray blast, and been knocked off the road into the side of a building. While Sarah didn't blame the Rangers, knowing that they couldn't keep everyone safe, it was the driving force behind her desire to help in any way she could. Her mom got lucky all things considered, she had suffered a concussion and both her legs were broken, leading to her spending a few weeks in the hospital, but she had survived. The Pink Ranger, Shelby, had rescued her from the bus. Sarah wanted more than anything to repay that act, to repay the fact her mother was still alive by trying to ensure it didn't happen to anyone else.

Unfortunately for her, and the city though this mistake was something entirely different. This wasn't failing to notice a flanking attack or deflecting a blast into an inhabited area by mistake, the fact was that the bad guys were using HER tech. It was her weapon that was destroying the city. Every casualty, every home destroyed or every business damaged was all on her. She wanted to get Hackrack, to destroy him for turning her technology, something she had created purely for good intentions on the city, and she wanted to prevent him doing it again.

She looked to the clock and realised that the efforts had already taken a lot longer than she had anticipated. The battle had already been raging for at least twenty minutes, and every minute it went on more people were in danger. She had no idea why it was taking so long for her clones to complete their assigned tasks. Any one of the solutions should surely be at least ready to test by now.

"Sarah, I need you to come and check this code, right away!" Clone 1 told her. Clone 1 was the one looking for glitches in the code, errors they could exploit and cause a catastrophic failure.

"Here I come." Sarah said, leaving her search programme to come over in an attempt to try and help. However, she was blocked by one of the other clones.

"Sarah, I need your help to block Hacktrack's signal!" Clone 2...or was it 3 she assigned to blocking the signal? She couldn't remember, but that clone was flailing wildly as she grabbed Sarah to start physically dragging her towards her console. "I've got a signal but I need ideas how to boost it to break in..."

"It's not going to work." Another clone...4 was it? Or maybe 2? Whichever one was working on cutting the power...or was she the one trying to regain control? She interrupted her fellow clone smugly. Sarah wondered...did she ever come across like that? God, did she come across as a know-it-all at times? "Sarah needs to come and help me!"

Sarah found herself being pulled in a literal game of tug-of-war between two of her own clones.

"WHY AREN'T YOU LISTENING TO ME?" Another clone screamed, beginning to throw a tantrum. "I'm on the verge of a breakthrough!"

"Back off, I need her now!" Another clone screamed...she had no idea which one. Soon all four of them were screaming at her and each other. Sarah clutched her head, stepping back away from all of them as they all turned on each other.

"Why isn't this working?" Sarah screamed as she watched the scene of chaos unfolding before her. Kody ran off, looking for somewhere to hide. Suddenly all of the clones fell silent as there was another; much louder, much more chaotic noise distracting all of them. Sarah turned in time to see Mick marching into the room, playing what looked like half the instruments in the musical department at the same time! He had a drum strapped to his chest, which he was banging with a tambourine while he blew into a trumpet with the other hand. He had a pair of cymbals strapped to his knees meaning he set off a clash every time his legs came together.

"MICK!" Sarah and all of her clones yelled at him. Mick stopped playing and looked at them, quickly figuring out which was the real Sarah by the skull-cap she was wearing.

"WHAT are you doing?" Sarah demanded. Her eyes were wide in amazement. Mick was a strange guy, that came with the territory. Being an alien they knew that there were some cultural differences and sometimes he had to rein in some of his more bizarre behaviour, but even he knew that when there was a battle raging wasn't the time to be doing...whatever the hell it was he was doing!

"Oh, sorry, did I interrupt?" He asked her. Sarah was almost floored by this question in its seeming stupidity. All of her clones seemed to share the sentiment, splitting off and going back to their own corners. The city was in danger of being flattened any minute. The three Megazords could only hold out so long, and she had no idea if Galvanax and his goons could just create more if they did somehow win. Now was not the time to be messing around, she had no time or patience for his quirks right now.

"Are you kidding?" Sarah demanded.

"I just thought I would learn to play musical instruments!" Mick said proudly. "But...um...I can't seem to get it quite right."

Sarah's mouth just hung open, unable to find any kind of words to respond to this. Mick clicked his fingers as he seemed to get what was going on, but nothing could prepare Sarah for what he said next.

"Maybe YOU could spare a moment to help me!" He suggested. This was the moment that Sarah completely lost the last shred of her patience.

"Of course not! I am in the middle of a crisis!" She screamed in Mick's face. "And instead of helping me, you're messing around with instruments...and...you're trying to play four at once!"

"Is that an issue?" Mick asked her. Sarah was ready to explode.

"You need to focus! You need to do one thing at a time!" She screamed in his face. "It's better to do one thing well than four things terribly!"

"Hmm...interesting." Mick mused. "Aren't you trying to do four things at once?"

"I have my clones!" Sarah told him.

"Oh...you mean...those clones?" He asked. Sarah turned to look at the room. One of her clones was bashing her head against her computer screen, while two more were in the middle of a screaming match that was starting to become physical, pushing and shoving each other. The other one was literally curled up in a ball on the floor weeping hysterically. Suddenly something hit Sarah. Brody had told her that her track clone couldn't even follow the course. The chess club clone had lost every game, and her camping clone couldn't even put up a tent she had put up herself hundreds of times without incident. Her clones ran on her brainwaves, that was how they would act as she would, but the more she did, the more demands were on her brain. Each clone activated was essentially like controlling a highly advanced videogame...and she was trying to play Zelda, Sonic, Grand Theft Auto and Assassin's Creed all at the same time!

"Oh!" She said in an embarrassed way, realising the chaos she had created. "The clones weren't helping me, they were distracting me. I need to concentrate on one thing at a time."

"Bingo." Mick said with a smile. It was only then that Sarah figured out that the one-man-band routine had all been a ruse. It was just one of Mick's unique lessons. She squealed and threw her arms around him, well, his drum anyway as she couldn't reach him.

"Thanks Mick!" She squeed as she hugged the drum. "What would I do without you?"

"Well, that is something you won't have to find out, because I will always be here for you." Mick said in a paternal way as he reached for her skull-cap. "Now...can I? All these Sarahs is getting a little creepy."

"Gladly!" Sarah said as he took the skull-cap off. The four clones disappeared and their holo projectors fell to the ground. Sarah could already fell a weight being lifted off her mind, and her brain seemed to be freer, more open and less cluttered than it had been. She heard the alert from her tracking software and knew that Hacktrack had been found, but as she was going to go check her computer, she stopped and picked up one of the holo projectors.

"What is it?" Mick asked her.

"Hacktrack likes my technology huh?" She asked. "Maybe I'll tempt him with a little more!"

Back in the city, the Ninja Rangers and their unexpected comrades were struggling to limit the damage being done by the clones while they waited on word from Sarah.

"Titano Axe, Collosal CRUSH!" Matt called out as he brought his axe down, destroying one of the clones. It was difficult to see in his cockpit as it was filled with smoke, and his systems warnings were flashing and sounding sirens to alert him to the numerous imminent mechanical failures. "One down!"

"Make that two!" Kendall said as she launched her Rocket Punch through one of the clones.

"And that makes three!" Brody said as he cut down another. "Now we just have to figure out what to do about the other five!"

"Guys, I'm on my way!" Sarah's voice came over the intercom.

"Sarah!" Kendall called out, hearing her voice. "You've figured out..."

"I've located Hacktrack! He's the key to all of this!" Sarah told them. Just then one of the clones smashed down the Titanozord.

"Guys, I'm going down!" Matt called out. "Sorry, I'm out!"

"Then help me with Hacktrack!" Sarah told him.

"One of the other clones sliced through the Plesiozord, causing a critical failure. Kendall hit the recall command.

"I'm out too." She told them. "Send me your co-ordinates! We'll help you on the ground!"

"Hayley, Calvin, you guys go too!" Brody instructed them. "Preston, you're with me!"

"How long do you think we can hold out against five clones by ourselves?" Preston asked him.

"With luck, long enough." Brody answered honestly.

Down on the ground, Matt helped Kendall to her feet as Sarah roared into the street on her Mega Morph Cycle. Hayley and Calvin ran into view, joining them.

"Sorry I took so long guys." Sarah told them as they gathered around.

"Where's Hacktrack?" Hayley asked. "You said..."

"I don't know exactly, I've tracked his signal to this area, but I can't pinpoint it." Sarah explained. "He's close though."

"What have you got?" Calvin asked her. She reached to the back of her bike, pulling out a device that looked like a pyramid, with a gold sphere inside it. She presented it to them.

"This is a new holo-projector." Sarah stated.

"Another holo-projector?" Matt asked sceptically. "You think right now what we need is MORE clones?"

"This one is better! It'll make clones much more powerful than before!" Sarah continued, ignoring him. "So whatever we do, we cannot let Hacktrack get his hands on this one!"

They were all suddenly hit by an energy blast, knocking all of them to the ground. Matt was starting to get up, and saw Hacktrack heading towards the Holo-projector. He was loading a Dino Charger into his blaster, but he felt Kendall grab his wrist.

"Kendall..."

"No, don't!" Kendall told him.

"Didn't you hear her?" He asked. "We can't..."

"Yeah, I heard her." Kendall said with a smirk. "I have a hunch."

"Well...you've never been wrong before." Matt said as he powered down his blaster. "I hope you're not about to start now."

"Ha ha! You're too late Rangers! I'll absorb this techno-gadget too!" Hacktrack taunted them.

"NO! STOP!" Sarah called out.

"Thank you for making our clones stronger than ever!" Hacktrack said as he absorbed it into himself. The team watched as he stood triumphantly for a moment, before suddenly his hands started twitching...before he knew what was happening he was punching himself in the face repeatedly.

"What the hell?" Calvin asked.

Up on the Warrior Dome, Galvanax was savouring his victory, playing with the Ninja Steel Megazord as his victory looked all but inevitable. Suddenly though, the mask started to heat up, it wasn't just warm though...it was burning him! The screen got brighter and brighter until he couldn't bear to look at it and he ripped the mask off as it started sparking. He threw it at some Kudabots only moments before it exploded, taking them with it.

"CURSE YOU RANGERS!" Galvanax screamed as he stumbled blindly off the stage. Cosmo knew he had to work fast to save his show.

"Um...the Rangers seem to have pulled a magnificent feint!" Cosmo said as he watched all the clones disappear. He turned to the Buzz-cams focusing on Hacktrack, seeing the robot as he stomped around, clawing at himself, tearing pieces off his own body with his bare hands.

"Y...y...you...infected..."

"I knew you wouldn't be able to resist more of my technology, so I just uploaded it with a little virus." Sarah said proudly. "Of my own design of course!"

"So THAT was your plan!" Calvin said in a congratulatory tone. "You even had me fooled!"

"Well, you know what hackers do to spread malware nowadays, they tempt people with stuff they can't help but download." Sarah said smugly as Hacktrack fell to the ground and exploded. "Show's over, Ninjas win!"

"Maybe not." Hayley reminded her. "That's up to the audience at home."


	25. Ninjas In Space

On the Warrior Dome, the audience was abuzz. While Hacktrack had been ultimately unsuccessful in his drive to defeat the Rangers, he had something that others didn't. He had caused massive amounts of chaos with his Galvanax clones. He was fresh, he was unique...the audience wanted more and they weren't shy about making that sentiment known!

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the scale is off the chart!" Cosmo declared as his counter started flashing and blaring. "You all know what that means don't you?" He called out.

"GIGANTIFY!" They all screamed at once. Cosmo slammed his hand down on the console and looked out to the crowd.

"Whatever my audience wants, my audience gets!" He called out. "I hope the Rangers are ready for a REALLY big virus!"

Back on the ground, the ray hit the ground, right where Hacktrack had fallen. The Rangers watched as he started to grow. Kendall came to Sarah's side.

"No matter how different the bad guys are, some things are always the same." She commented. "Our zords are still down. Do you have this covered?"

"We have a few options left." Sarah told her. "Thanks for the assist, we'll catch up..."

"You can count on that." Kendall told her. Sarah just nodded wordlessly. She didn't doubt that she owed Kendall a huge favour for having her back, even if that favour was an explanation as to why she had to bail her out. She, Hayley and Calvin leapt back into the Megazord, rejoining Brody and Preston.

"Check out my new hardware!" Hacktrack cackled. "Nice Zords, but can they follow me into the sky?"

"We sure can!" Preston said, moving to take up the Command Position. Sarah put a hand on his shoulder.

"Preston, I know this is your formation but...mind if I take the lead?" Sarah asked him. "I have a score to settle with this guy. This was my mess, I want to be the one to take care of it."

Preston looked to Brody, who handed Sarah the Master Blade. She stepped into the Command Spot, taking a deep breath.

"Alright Megazord, I know you've taken a licking and I'm largely to blame for that, but just hold it together a little while longer and I promise you I'll make it up to you...somehow."

She took the blade in both hands, assuming control.

"Ninja Megazord, Dragon Mode!" She called out, changing form. "This guy wants to take it to the air, we can take it to the air!"

In the Ranger Base, Mick was working on more throwing stars, something of a nervous habit he had developed for when the Rangers were in the midst of battle so that he didn't spend time watching on the monitors, wishing he could help them more in the field.

"Mick, look!" Redbot called out, pointing towards the Nexus Prism as it started to glow and an image started to form. "The Nexus Prism is showing another image."

"It looks like a...a...UFO." Mick commented. "I think it's another Zord!"

He picked up a throwing star and threw it into the Nexus Prism, which started spinning rapidly. A brand new Zord Star fired out at incredible speed, straight into Mick's hands. He looked to it and smiled.

Up in the sky, the Rangers were in hot pursuit of Hacktrack, in a deadly dogfight over the city, firing blasts at each other. Despite the wear and tear of the previous battles, the Megazord was holding up, and Sarah seemed to have a pretty good grasp of aerial combat. Hacktrack quickly realised he was in trouble as he only narrowly avoided being incinerated by a flame blast.

"Nice Zord, but can it follow me into SPACE?" He asked, turning sharply upwards. Sarah followed him, but as she was climbing, warnings started to sound.

"Uh...Sarah...you know our Zord isn't designed to go into Space right?" Calvin asked her.

"I can catch him!"

"Sarah, the life-support system is close to critical!" Brody warned her. "We have to turn back!"

"A few more feet..."

"A few more feet and we could go into critical failure!" Preston told her. "We have to turn back!"

"Dr Morgan, is the Plesiomax Megazord...?"

"It's still down!" Kendall answered. "He's gone, you have to turn back!"

"Maybe not!" Mick's voice called through the Ninja Comms. "I have a new Zord Star, hot off the grill! Say hello to the Astro Zord!"

The new Zord Star appeared in the cockpit in Sarah's hand. She looked to it, seeing a picture of a warrior that looked like he was wearing some kind of space helmet. She hooked it into the Master Blade.

"Thanks Mick!" She stated, spinning the Zord Star. "Astro Megazord, out of the shadows!"

The Rangers saw a Zord appear from the clouds, spinning towards them.

"The Astro Zord is EPIC!" Brody said excitedly.

"It looks just like a flying saucer!" Preston added.

"The Zord Star's telling me something...with this we should be able to go into space!" Sarah told them. "The Power Boost should be welcome too! Astro Megazord, Activate!"

The Astro Zord connected with the Megazord, forming into its new formation. The Rangers were indeed grateful for the power boost, but more than anything, it came with its own new systems that allowed them to pursue their enemy into Space. They climbed up higher and higher, the bale blue of the sky becoming tinged with orange as they burned through the atmosphere before melting away into a beautiful black curtain studded with stars.

"I...I...I can't believe it...we're...we're really in SPACE!" Calvin gasped. "We really did it!"

"There's Hacktrack, he's heading for the moon!" Brody said, pointing downwards. "This is your fight Sarah, you take us down!"

Sarah landed, just as Hacktrack was touching down. Hacktrack turned and let out a shriek as he saw them behind him.

"You...you followed me?" He shrieked.

"Guys...we're on the MOON!" Hayley screeched. "I can't believe we're on the freaking MOON!"

"Say guys, look down there!" Calvin said, pointing a little way off. "Is that...Is that a camper van?"

"A camper van?" Preston asked. "Calvin, do you have any idea how many satellites there are out there? Some of them are bound to crash into the moon!"

"I swear, it looks just like a camper van!" Calvin stated.

"Who would bring a camper van up here?" Preston asked him.

"Guys, can we just focus for a minute?" Sarah asked, causing all of them to stare at her.

"Um...is SARAH seriously calling US out on being unfocused?" Calvin commented.

"We've taken one small step for Rangers, one giant leap towards kicking this monster's butt!" Sarah called out, ignoring their taunts as she strode towards Hacktrack, swinging her weapon.

"Ha ha, missed me!" Hacktrack taunted her as he ducked her first swing, but he stood up right into the back-hand, taking it straight into the face. Sarah planted the blaster into his chest, firing it point-blank and sending him staggering backwards.

"Time to unplug this guy PERMANENTLY!" Sarah called out, powering up her Ninja Master Blade and pulling the ripcord. "FINAL STRIKE!"

They opened fire, at which the blaster launched a series of energy ninja stars at Hacktrack. They sliced through him, at which he stopped stock still.

"Hacktrack...Over and...ouuuuuuuuuuuut!" The creature said, before falling to the moon's surface and exploding. Sarah smiled as she took in her accomplishment. She had made a terrible error, one that nearly cost the Earth dearly, but now, Hacktrack was no more, and she had finally fixed her own mistake.

"Show's over, Ninjas win!" She proclaimed proudly. "Now THAT was satisfying!"

"So, before we go home...do you mind swinging this thing a little closer to that camper van...?"

"Calvin, it is NOT a camper van!" Preston stated.

"Well if you're so confident how about we go over there and find out for sure?" Calvin asked him.

"Personally I'm more interested to get back to the base for a de-brief." Brody commented. "Sarah...why do I get the feeling that you know more about the Dino Rangers showing up here than you told us?"

"Um..."

"Wait...I'm sure I heard the Purple Ranger call out your name when Hacktrack blasted us!" Hayley commented.

"Oh...I'm sure she was just..."

"No, she called you by name, she called you Sarah!" Calvin recalled. "And you just called her Kendall!"

Sarah saw the team all turning towards her and started to shrink away nervously.

"Yeah...there MIGHT be a little something about my time in Amber Beach I didn't quite tell you guys about." She said, before getting onto her Ninja Comm. "Dr Morgan? Would you mind heading for the school?"

"I'm already on my way." Kendall answered.

As she killed the communications link, she could see her friends still staring at her.

"Surprise?" She offered weakly.

Up on the Warrior Dome, Cosmo, Wrench, Ripcon and Odious were in Galvanax's chambers as he was being treated. The physician just tutted as he inspected his face.

"It looks like flash damage. Your vision will be impaired for a while, but I don't see any danger of lasting damage." The physician told him. "I'd advise you avoid bright lights for a couple of weeks, but it looks like you took that mask off just in time..."

"This is YOUR fault Spanner!" Galvanax shrieked, swinging for Wrench and missing by several feet.

"Hey! That was ME you almost hit boss!" Ripcon whined.

"You and your worthless minion almost blinded me you walking tin can!" He screeched, beginning to throw everything that wasn't nailed down, and quite a few things that WERE attached, he ripped up to throw as well! Fortunately he was missing everyone by such a wide margin no one even needed to duck. "If you EVER pull anything like that again, I'll drag YOU into the arena and turn you into tinfoil, eyesight or no!"

With that, Ripcon, Wrench and Cosmo left the room. Being his manager, Odious stayed to oversee Galvanax and try to calm him down. It was in her best interests to see to it that his recovery was as quick as possible. The last thing anyone needed, least of all her, was a champion that was incapable of defending his title. While it was rare, there WAS a clause in the rules that permitted a champion being stripped of their title if they were unable or unwilling to defend their title, and right now, Galvanax was her gravy train.

As they got into the hall, Ripcon rounded on Wrench and Cosmo.

"You two tore me to pieces over my last competitor, but at least I didn't almost cripple the champion!" He called out to them.

"Ripcon, this IS a blood-sport." Cosmo reminded him. "People get hurt..."

"He wasn't even IN THE MATCH!" Ripcon screamed at them. "Mark my words Cosmo, this is NOT the end of this! As for you, you overgrown toaster oven, you better watch your step! You might think Cosmo is protecting you but the minute he tires of you, I'll be only too glad to slice you to pieces!"

As he stormed off, Wrench just looked to Cosmo.

"I..I...I'm..."

"Wrench, don't you worry about them." Cosmo told him.

"But...but Galvanax..."

"Galvanax should worry more about whether or not he'll be ready or not in time for his next title defence." Galvanax told him coldly.

"But...but..."

"Wrench, why don't you check your bank balance?" Cosmo told him. Wrench opened up the console on his forearm and typed in a few keys, and almost fell over.

"What in the...?"

"Talent get a five percent cut of the gate and the pay-per-view buy rate. Managers get a ten percent cut. The way I see it, since it was your idea and Hacktrack isn't around to collect his cut, there's no reason you shouldn't get both." Cosmo said, lighting up a cigar.

"I don't understand..."

"My boy, I don't give a rat's ass that your boy Hacktrack was ultimately unsuccessful." Cosmo stated. "This match had everything! Destruction, chaos! A new Megazord! A surprise appearance by not just one, but TWO past Megazords and even the CHAMPION! Hell, the match wasn't even restricted to the one location, it finished on the freaking MOON! I couldn't BUY that kind of match and thanks to throwing that prisoner at it, you gave it to me for FREE!"

"I...I...I don't know what to say!" Wrench squealed excitedly.

"Say you're already thinking of your next big idea." Cosmo said with a grin. "Now, you can spend all that money if you want, it's yours. Do with it what you want. But if I were you, I'd spend some time trawling the gyms and the talent pools. Keep an eye out and look for some investments. You never know when your next opportunity will come."

With that, Cosmo walked away, jumping and clicking his heels as he went. Wrench looked to his bank balance and had to steady himself against a wall. He had earned more in a single day that he was likely to earn in a year! He never had much interest in the combat side of the business before, but then he never had the capitol to get involved even if he did. Sponsoring and training a fighter professionally was a costly business, but now...now he thought it might just be worth his time taking a little visit to the fighting pits in The Sump.

Back at the Ranger Base, Kendall and Matt had joined the new team to go over the events of the day. The city was slowly returning to normal, and while there was a fair bit of damage, thanks to the timely arrival of Kendall and Matt, the devastation was nowhere near what it could have been. Galvanax was a warrior more than he was a vandal, and so he had concentrated far more on the challenge of Megazords that could fight back than buildings that could not.

Sarah sat in the middle of the room, her friends all around her as she finally told them everything. She had kept her secret of her time in Amber Beach a secret largely because of her sense of duty to protect the identities of her friends. It had gone both ways, she hadn't actually told Kendall who her team were. She had only forwarded pictures of Brody and Mick so that she could forge their documents, but that was all. However, she knew that there was a part of her that almost liked the idea that there was something she knew that the others didn't. Now though, as she saw them looking at her, she felt guilty for not telling them.

"Whenever I see one of these freaks appear, all I can think of is my mom and how she looked when she was in the hospital." Sarah told them. "Any time one of these monsters appears, all I can think is who else is going to have to see one of their friends or their family that way? In a weird way, the day that monster switched bodies with me was one of the best days of my life! I could volunteer to help rebuild damaged homes or raise funds for people that couldn't afford their medical bills but that was only ever treating the symptoms. Even if all I did was build a few weapons or even just polishing the zords I was able to do something to help solve the problem!"

She looked up to her friends from her chair.

"I know I should have told you guys more, but I had to protect the identities of the team." Sarah told them. "I did the same for you guys...except for Brody, I kind of had to tell her who you were so she could forge your documents..."

"You made those documents for us?" Mick asked.

"I have kind of a gift for forgery." Kendall told him. "What's the occasional felony between friends. Sarah...I know we said you have to keep our identities secret, but we kind of have an unofficial rule that it's alright with other Rangers."

"If you're a member, you're a member. Other members of the Brotherhood will always be there to help if you need it." Matt said with a smile. "Think of us like the Templar Knights, only with spandex and giant robots."

"I'm really sorry I didn't tell you all what I knew." Sarah said apologetically. "And I'm sorry for the clones. I made them because I thought they would help...instead I only made things worse. I've been taking on way too much and while I thought the clones helped, but it turns out, they only scattered my thoughts further."

"It's a hard lesson to learn, I flunked out of my first degree before I figured that out." Kendall told her. "Learning your limits is as important as learning to push them."

"Most of all, I'm sorry to you Dr Morgan." She sighed. "Right now you should be in Millport loading up on Mrs Griffin's awesome turkey, not here bailing my butt out."

"I was in the area, I was planning on dropping in for a visit." She told her. "Besides, it was strangely nice to get back in the saddle."

She looked around the base with a smile.

"You know you've got a pretty nice set-up here." She commented. "But...what if anyone wants to paint?"

"Victor sorted that problem for us." Hayley chuckled. "He blew up the compressor. The room's going to be out of commission until at least next year's budget."

"And knowing the way school administrators take forever to make a decision on anything I have a feeling it won't go into next year's budget either." Preston assured her. Kendall picked up one of Sarah's holo projectors.

"You know, the basic idea for this wasn't too bad." Kendall told her.

"Please, it was a disaster..."

"No, I mean you set your sights a little too high, but the technology involved in making this, it's way beyond even my wildest dreams." She told her.

"It is?" Sarah asked her.

"Yeah, the clones work, it's just that they take a little too much mental energy to run at full capacity." She commented. "But only one or two in a limited way..."

"Mick, do you think we can work on something with the holo-technology?" Sarah asked him. "Maybe we could make something that could help with this after all."

"Well, we can." Mick told her. "But only after you finish your sentence."

"Sentence?" Sarah asked.

"Well, you DID lie to your team, so you owe them, and you DO owe your old team a favour after they helped us out." Mick told her. "Not to mention our own Zords."

"Yeah, that's right, I seem to remember hearing you promising you'd make it up to them." Brody said with a little smile. "I seem to remember something about promising to take care of them."

"I know if she washes and waxes the Zords I'll consider the debt paid." Hayley answered.

"Wait...what?" Sarah asked.

"Ours too!" Kendall said with a smirk. "They did take kind of a beating."

"Oh come ON!" Sarah whined as Mick handed her a bucket and some cleaning supplies.

"And no clones." Mick warned her, patting her on the head. Just then some alarms started sounding. Sarah breathed a sigh of relief as she realised this would save her at least for a little while. As they got to the screens, Mick looked more than a little concerned.

"Guys, did any of you summon the Astro Zord?" Mick asked them.

"No, why?" Brody asked.

"Because it just launched." Mick told them. "And it's heading straight for the Warrior Dome!"


	26. Astro Zord Rescue

On the Warrior Dome, Ripcon was still fuming about the way things had been going the last few weeks. It seemed that ever since the Rangers turned up, the games and the schemes had only become more prevalent. He had suggested a couple of fighters, none of which had impressed. Instead of enhancing his career prospects, he was openly mocked by Cosmo and Odious, right in front of Galvanax! His was the opinion that mattered, HE was the champion, and yet they made him look like a fool in front of him, time and time again. It was almost like they were actively sabotaging him.

He always knew that they never respected him. They saw him as nothing but one of their meat-headed fighters. It was true that most of them were not good businessmen. They were outwitted in contract negotiations all the time. They couldn't see anything beyond their next fight and so they often relied on fast-talking business types to set up their deals and free themselves up to train. It didn't take long for Ripcon to realise that the fighters were getting screwed more often than not in these negotiations and while it was possible for top performers to walk away as rich monsters, it was those in the offices that generally walked away with the steady incomes...and none of THEM had to risk injury or death!

Odious' monster had failed, but she hadn't been mocked the way Ripcon was. If anything, her monster had gotten closer to victory, only to fail at the last hurdle handing the Rangers the win when victory should have been all but certain!

He was ripped from his thoughts as the ship shook violently. He struggled to remain on his feet while others were thrown around.

"What was that?" He screamed into his communicator.

"We're taking fire from some kind of cloaked ship!" He heard a security worker reply. "We're taking heavy fire on the starboard side, deck fifteen, sector twelve!"

"Have a contingent of Kudabots meet me there!" Ripcon yelled as he broke into a run.

Inside, in Odious' secret lab, her prisoner was still strapped into her device, still subject to her torturous experiment, almost completely oblivious to anything outside the helmet up until the screen before his eyes went blank. He would have been thrown from the chair if he wasn't strapped into it. The device seemed to be offline now, it had blocked out anything other than what Odious had wanted him to see or hear, but now it had been knocked out, he could hear, if not see what was happening. The ship rocked again, this time he felt a change in temperature, the room becoming significantly colder as he heard a blast.

He felt something strike the restraint holding his left hand, breaking him free. He was now able to reach the catch holding the right restraint before pulling off the helmet. He tried to get up, but fell to his knees. Everything was blurry as his eyes tried to adjust to the light in the room. It was starting to come into focus, but he could hardly recognise anything. It was only dimly familiar from when he was brought in, but he had been exposed to false images and programming now for...he wasn't even sure how long he had been in that thing.

He was completely disorientated, and his mind was a jumble, like someone had taken a blender to his memories, meaning that nothing made sense. He had no idea what order any of his memories came in. He couldn't figure out where he was or what was going on around him, right now, he couldn't even be sure of who he was. Looking around and hearing the alarms, he only knew one thing, he had to get out of here, and he had to do it fast!

Something called to him from the machine he had been hooked up to. Looking between the hole in the hull and the machine, he thought about just escaping, but an unknown force drew him towards the machine.

He ran for it, kicking the panel which only seemed to dent it. He looked around for something to use to open it, finding a steel rod. He jammed it behind the panel and pulled it with all the strength he had, prying it open. Inside was the Gold Power Star.

He had dim memories of it, he knew it was important, but he wasn't entirely sure why. All he could tell for sure was that he had an almost instinctual feeling deep within him that it belonged to him, and he had to ensure that no one else got their hands on it, even if he risked his life to retrieve it every second he remained in this place.

The prisoner reached for the Gold Power Star, grabbing it and felt its power flow through him, energising him as he morphed into the Gold Ranger. He stared at his hands, still unable to straighten out his thoughts, but he didn't have long before his focus was returned sharply when Ripcon ran into the room. The initial blast had punched a hole through several bulkheads meaning that the lab was now fully exposed to anyone that walked past.

"What is this place?" He asked, before seeing the Ranger before him. He drew his swords. "The Gold Ranger? How did you get on the ship?"

This was an excellent question, one the Gold Ranger was perfectly certain he shouldn't answer even if he was in a position to do so. As Ripcon came for him, swinging wildly, the Gold Ranger dodged his swings. He struck the creature in the face, before spinning around, kicking him in the chest. Ripcon rolled away from him with the force of the blow, at which the prisoner stared, surprised that he was able to do something like that. Was he some kind of warrior? How did he know how to fight? He saw Ripcon coming for him again, this time swinging far more viciously and coming so quickly he couldn't defend himself for long.

"I don't know how you got here Gold Ranger, but you aren't leaving!" Ripcon stated as he started to power up his blades. "You're going to tell me who brought you on board...and it'll be the last thing you ever do!"

The Gold Ranger heard something calling to him. Glancing at the hole in the hull, he saw the Astro Zord outside the ship. It was a long way from the ship, but he opted to take his chances and ran, leaping out of the hole just as Ripcon's Double Blade Doom Strike flew towards him, slamming into the wall. He was astounded by how far he jumped, wondering how it was in any way physically possible to jump so far, though he was grateful as the top of the Astro Zord opened up, allowing him to fall into it. The Astro Zord powered up its engines and sped away from the Warrior Dome, its laser cannons firing wildly, unable to draw a bead on it. Ripcon grabbed the edge, looking out of the hole and screaming in frustration as he watched it go. He was quickly joined by some Kudabots.

"Search every inch of this room for clues! I want to know EXACTLY what this place is!" Ripcon instructed them. "Then I want everyone onboard questioned! The Gold Ranger got on board this ship and I want to know how!"

Back at the Ranger Base, Mick and the others were keeping track of the Astro Zord. It was incredibly troubling that a Zord would act on its own. While they knew the Zords had a few automatic functions, for the most part they tended not to act without the Rangers directing them to.

"The Astro Zord just attacked the Warrior Dome and then left." Kendall told them. "According to this, it...it has a passenger on board now."

"There was no one on the ship before." Brody said, looking confused. "Do you think it rescued someone from the ship?"

"It looks that way." Mick replied. "It looks like it's coming down. I'm going to try and plot a trajectory, see if I can figure out where it's going to land."

"It's directly overhead; it's heading for Summer Cove." Kendall told him. "According to this, if it holds this trajectory it's going to land in the city plaza."

Onboard the Astro Zord, the Gold Ranger was grateful to be free of the Warrior Dome, but inside this unfamiliar ship, and with no one to explain what was happening, it was only marginally less terrifying being in this ship than the one he had been on.

He went to the control panels, trying to figure out if there was some way to find out where he was going. He couldn't for a minute figure out any of the controls, but seeing the navigation computer, it told him he was in a place called Summer Cove. The name was dimly familiar. He didn't feel a strong emotional connection, it wasn't like it was home to him, but more like somewhere he had visited a few times, somewhere that he had or at least should be familiar with.

Looking at the computer, he saw the altitude dropping, and could see he was coming down. Whoever was controlling the ship looked like they were planning on landing. He felt the ship slowing down which seemed to confirm this.

Before long, he felt a little jolt as the altimeter read zero, and the engines seemed to be powering down. He took this to mean that the ship had finally landed. The side of the ship started to open, flooding the cockpit with light. Shielding his eyes, the Gold Ranger made his way slowly forward.

Back at the Ranger Base, Kendall and Mick were tracking the descent. They wanted to send the Rangers to the landing site. It was difficult because the Astro Zord was utilising its cloaking technology, likely to throw off enemies, but they could narrow down its location within a certain range.

"Uh...guys, you might want to take a look at this!" Preston told them, pointing to another screen. This time it was the local news stream. A reporter was on-site at the city plaza and the broadcast was streaming live with the banner 'UFO Landed – Breaking News'. "Who wants to bet this is a coincidence?"

"If it is, one hell of a coincidence!" Hayley answered.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the UFO has landed in the city plaza." The reporter began. "Despite the incredible personal risk, considering the swathe of alien invaders that have come to Summer Cove lately, I'm going to stay to find out what we're going to see. I'm going to try and get closer..."

"Leslie, look! The hatch is opening!" One of the anchors in the studio said, alerting her to this development.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the ship appears to be opening up, someone appears to be coming out!" The reporter stated as she started to move towards the ship, looking noticeably nervous. "I'm going to remain with this live broadcast as long as I can. Is this new arrival friend or foe?"

The Gold Ranger leapt out of the ship, landing in the middle of the plaza. He looked around at the crowd of terrified citizens and felt the same fear washing over him. He didn't know anyone here. He didn't recognise anything.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it's a Gold Power Ranger!" The reporter said, becoming delighted. The crowd started to cheer, beginning to chant for the Gold Ranger. The reporter broke into a run, along with the rest of the crowd, all heading for the new hero.

The Gold Ranger saw the people running towards him, and even though they seemed to be chanting for him, he panicked, being surrounded by so many strangers. He ran off, quickly leaving the crowd far behind.

"The Gold Ranger?" Preston asked.

"Who is that?" Calvin added.

"I don't know." Sarah stated. "But whoever it is, he must be the one who pulled the Gold Power Star out of that prism!"

"That only leaves two questions." Brody responded. "Who is he, and what was he doing in the Warrior Dome?"

Elsewhere in the city, the Gold Ranger finally stopped running, satisfying himself that he was no longer in danger of being pursued. He looked to his new outfit, wondering how to get it off when it disappeared. He was now looking down at his own body and hands once more, but his mind was no clearer. He didn't know what had been done to him, but he had a tangle of thoughts and memories he just couldn't make sense of any of them.

He found a quiet corner and started to go through his pockets, looking for something that could help. He found a wallet, a receipt for a cabin, and a cell phone. Looking through the wallet, he found a driver's licence with a name on it. Levi Weston.

"Levi Weston?" He asked, trying it out as he stroked his own face. Yes, the name was his, he definitely remembered the name, and his memories were now starting to make a little more sense. He just hoped that now he knew that, with a little more time, he could figure out who the hell Levi Weston was!

Fin.


End file.
